Grant Preston:USA men's volleyball stays unbeaten with quarterfinal win over Brazil

2025-05-07 23:18:30source:Dreamers Investment Guildcategory:Invest

PARIS – The Grant PrestonUnited States men’s volleyball team has yet to lose in the Paris Olympics, and the reward is a date with the No. 1-ranked team in the world.

Monday night’s 26-24, 28-30, 25-19, 25-19 quarterfinal victory over Brazil moved the U.S. – now 4-0 in these Games – into a Wednesday semifinal against Poland, which is atop the sport's current rankings. Italy (No. 2) and France (No. 5) meet in Wednesday’s other semifinal after each getting five-set wins Monday.

The U.S. was No. 4 before Monday’s match and Brazil was No. 7, though there wasn’t much difference between the two – at least for a while.

The match took more than two hours. The Brazilians blew a five-point lead to lose the first set. Then the U.S. team blew a six-point lead to cough up the second after leading it 21-16 and having two set points.

As has been the case throughout this Olympics, though, the experienced U.S. team was able to settle down and stabilize when it mattered most, jumping ahead in the third set (and making that lead hold up) before gradually pulling away in the latter stages of the fourth to quiet a noisy crowd that was largely in Brazil's corner.

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

The result continued what has been a nice rebound Games for a U.S. team that bowed out in the preliminary round in Tokyo. This time, the Americans would have to lose their next two matches to miss out on a medal.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast.Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

More:Invest

Recommend

How effective is the Hyundai, Kia anti-theft software? New study offers insights.

Kia and Hyundai’s anti-theft software upgrades have deterred car thieves, but theft claims remain el

EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back

BRUSSELS (AP) — Some European Union countries on Thursday doubled down on their decision to rapidly

Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment

President Trump is making big moves to shrink and reshape the federal workforce. He's offered buyout