Brazil wins title of London Volleyball International Invitational
The final of the London Volleyball International Invitational was played on Sunday, 24th July, at Earls Court in London. The U.S. squad and the Brazilian team were scheduled to meet in a match that had all the ingredients of a thrilling final.
Five long and intensely competitive sets later, Brazil earned itself the title and a win over their arch rival.
By the time that the Brazilians had won, the score board showed the following final set scores: 25-21, 22-25, 25-27, 25-16 and 18-16.
The first set of the match saw the Brazilian side dominate for most part of the match, despite the fact that the Americans gave them a hard time in scoring. However, Brazil could not defend themselves against the Americans in the second set as the U.S. squad
came out strong. The third set of the match got fierce as each team tried to get the upper hand. After losing the third set in a close call, the Brazilians took their revenge by securing the fourth by a significant margin before moving on to a competitive
fifth set.
The U.S. player that was able to make the most points was Matt Anderson. Playing at the outside hitter position, Anderson tallied a total of 18 points for his team. Evan Patak also made his presence felt by adding 14 points whereas Paul Lotman registered
10 points for the U.S. side.
The start of the first set of the game saw both teams come out strong. However, the Brazilians were successful in taking the advantage and keeping the lead. Despite the fact that the Americans kept the chase close, they could not overtake the Brazilians
who rested only after winning the opening set at 25-21.
The Americans came into form in the second set and gave a tough time to the Brazilian squad. There were a couple of lead changes but eventually the Americans were able to extend their advantage and bag a win at 25-22. Likewise, the third set of the game
was also lost by the Brazilians at 25-27.
Being at a one set deficit did not sit well with the Brazilian squad and they rebounded by taking the fourth set in a blitzkrieg fashion by winning it at 25-16.
The American side had the lead with them for the early part of the last set at 6-3 and 9-7 but the Brazilians did not let them get away and tied the score at 9-9. The match point was reached three times in all and ended in a Brazilian victory at 18-16.
The tournament acted as a test event for the London 2012 Olympics, in which the indoor volleyball tournament will be staged at Earls Court. In all, a total of six teams had participated in the event.
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