Brazil is by far one of the greatest countries to play a volleyball match. The love and passion for the sport is unlike anywhere else in the world. We played two matches in Maringa to a capacity crowd of 6,000 screaming fans. What makes Brazil unique is their love for good volleyball and the fun loving spirit they bring to everything. Don’t get me wrong, they are definitely cheering for Brazil, but they are also more than willing to cheer for another team’s good play and effort.

Match 1

Team USA started Alisha Glass at setter, Jordan Larson and Megan Hodge at outside hitter, Jennifer Tamas and Foluke Akinradewo at middle blocker, Nancy Metcalf at opposite and Stacy Sykora at Libero.

The first set was close to start. Team USA controlled the ball extremely well in serve receive against a good serving team in an adverse environment which let us get the ball to our Quicks and run or offense smoothly for the entire first set and we were able to sideout at 75%. However, it remained close until the 2nd technical timeout when Foluke Akinradewo’s serving and Megan Hodge’s two timely kills opened up a four point lead at 21-17 and USA never looked back, winning 25-19.

Team USA came storming back and in a reversal of fortunes, found ourselves up 4-0 as a result of a string of Brazil errors and a stuff by Jen Tamas. However, Brazil fought their way back and tied the score at 10’s and eventually found themselves up 23-20. A team’s success is defined by its ability to perform under difficult circumstances. We were down 23-20 in front of 6,000 screaming fans all dressed in yellow and green and could have easily backed down but behind 3 kills from Jordan Larson, we were able to tie the score at 23. After a kill by Brazil to sideout, USA rattled off 3 straight points – a kill by Megan Hodge to sideout, transition swing by Nancy Metcalf and after a timely hitting error by the Brazilian outside hitter Jaqueline, Team USA found themselves up 2 games to 1.

The fourth set started off even but at 11-14, Brazil rattled off 11 straight points as a result of a breakdown in serve receive and a string of USA hitting errors. After siding out, Team USA managed to score a string of their own but it was too little, too late and Team USA fell in the 4th 25-15. Team USA gave Brazil 7 points on unforced errors in the set. At this level, the margins are thin and you can’t give away points.

After a 9:30 pm start time and 4 sets a volleyball, it was 11:15 at night, tied 2-2, we were surrounded by 6,000 screaming fans who wanted nothing more than to see a Brazilian win – there is no place you’d rather be. The set went back and forth. After two straight stuffs, Brazil found themselves up 5-2 but after a USA timeout, Team USA fought back and tied the score up at 6-6 and after a serving run by Jen Tamas and a side change, we found ourselves up 9-6. However, Brazil went on a run of their own and behind good defense, 2 USA hitting errors and an ace, Brazil scored 6 straight real points to go up 12-9 and Team USA could not recover, losing the 5th and deciding set 15-11.

Volleyball is about making good plays over long periods of time, not doing the spectacular on occasion. If you can play at a consistently good level, not surprisingly, good things will happen (aka Wins). On this night, Team USA fought hard but in the end, it was two stretches that cost the team a W.

After talking in the locker room, it was back to the hotel for a 1 am dinner and as much sleep as we could get before doing it all over again.

More to come about our 2nd match soon!

Jamie Morrison