Frustration mounts for U.S. men’s volleyball after second loss

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TOKYO (AP) A serve at a key time to enter the net. Blocking strategy poorly executed. Attacks that could not cross the defense of Brazil at the net.

These kinds of mistakes have left the usually calm American men’s volleyball coach John Speraw puzzled on the sidelines and knowing that the Americans can hardly afford any further setbacks after a four-set loss to Brazil in a group match on Friday.

I was pretty frustrated today, Speraw said. We really weren’t performing and it can get frustrating when we aren’t performing. This is something that I am waiting for. If we say we’re going to do this, we’ve got to do that.

After releasing a grueling first set 32-30, the Americans dropped the next three against Brazil 25-23, 25-21, 25-20.

The loss leaves the United States 2-2 with a Sunday pool game to be played against Argentina. Brazil, the reigning gold medalist, is 3-1.

I don’t think the game was really one-sided, said American Matt Anderson. They did some shopping here and there. But I think we were able to stop their runs in the first set, and that gave us a chance. But in the second, third and fourth, they put aside a few streaks that were difficult to recover from.

The United States can clinch a quarterfinal berth with a win over Argentina, giving them a chance at another medal after securing bronze five years ago in Rio de Janeiro. A loss would likely send the Americans home after the group game for the first time since 2000, when they lost all five games in Sydney.

A key aspect of the loss to Brazil was again serving. While Brazil had seven aces and just eight serve errors, the Americans struggled to keep their serves.

The United States, which started the day with the most faults in the tournament (62), committed 21 more against Brazil, including several at key moments. Two came on set points in the first set which the Americans managed to overcome, but others ended up killing trades in subsequent sets as the United States tried to set up runs scored to clear. deficits.

I think our servers have the capacity to be the best service team in the world, Anderson said. Honestly, I do. We have guys who can absolutely tear the ball apart and guys with a wide variety who can move the ball. Hats off to Brazil today. I think when we served really hard today they defended those balls and passed them really well.

Speraw said it’s always a delicate balance between aggressiveness and aggressiveness on the serve, knowing that not going can create easy chances for the opponent.

Anderson said there was no reason to give up just to avoid mistakes.

We have to be aggressive, he said. Giving free balls to teams is not a way to win the Olympics.

In other results, Canada swept away winless Venezuela for their second win in four games in Pool A. Poland improved to 3-1 with a win over Japan, which fell to 2-2 . Italy and Iran both entered the matchday 2-1 and played later on Friday.

The other matches in Pool B on Friday feature Argentina (1-2) against Tunisia (0-3) and ROC (3-0) against France (1-2).

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More AP: https://apnews.com/hub/2020-tokyo-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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