Nanjing, China, July 5, 2019 – The United States defeated Brazil 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 20-25, 25-21) to grab the top spot in Pool B heading into the semifinals of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League on Friday. Team USA redeemed their four-set preliminary round loss against Brazil.
Jordan Thompson went all-out for USA as she fired 30 spikes and added two blocks and a service winner for a match-high 33 points, then her teammate Jordan Larson contributed 13 points. USA led Brazil in attacks 64-49, blocks 10-4, and service aces 7-2. Brazil, meanwhile, got their offence running as Lorenne Geraldo Teixeira logged 21 points, 19 coming from the attack line.
USA won the inaugural edition of the VNL in 2018, when they defeated Turkey in the tiebreaker in the final, while Brazil finished in fourth place last year after losing to Turkey in the semifinal and China in the bronze medal match.
United States-Brazil Match Centre
Pre-match stats:
United States - Brazil (July 5, 2019)
Head-to-Head
• United States and Brazil meet for the 57th time in major world level competitions. Brazil lead the head-to-head with W32-L24.
• Brazil have won four of their last five world level matches against United States, including a 3-2 in the 2016 World Grand Prix final. USA's win in this run was a 3-1 in last year's Volleyball Nations League preliminary round.
• In the 2019 VNL, these teams met in Lincoln on 6 June in the preliminary round. Brazil won 3-1 with 27 points by Gabriela Braga Guimaraes. USA's top scorer that match was Andrea Drews (19).
• Brazil defeated United States in the gold medal match at both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games.
• United States and Brazil will both feature in this year's VNL semi-finals.
United States
• United States kicked off the 2019 Volleyball Nations League final round with a 3-1 victory over Poland, their sixth successive win in the competition.
• United States won the inaugural edition of the VNL in 2018, defeating Turkey in five sets in the final in Nanjing on 1 July 2018. Kimberly Hill won 20 points for USA, at least two more than any of her teammates.
• United States won 13 of their 16 VNL matches in 2019. They have only won more world level matches at the 2018 VNL (17), 2012 World Grand Prix and 1995 World Grand Prix (both 14).
• United States have won 18 VNL matches in straight sets, more than any other team (China next on 16).
• Andrea Drews is USA's leading points scorer on 181 points. She won a team-high 23 points against Poland on 3 July.
• Drews is one of the best attackers in the 2019 VNL with 157 spikes from 335 attempts (46.87%).
Brazil
• Brazil came back from behind twice in their 3-2 win against Poland in the final round on 4 July.
• Brazil finished in fourth place in the inaugural edition of the FIVB Volleyball Nations League in 2018. They missed out on a place in the final after a 3-0 loss against Turkey in the semi-finals and then lost in straight sets against China in the third-place decider.
• Only China (10) won more matches in straight sets in the 2019 VNL than Brazil (8).
• With 17 points against Poland, Gabriela Braga Guimaraes (250) became the third player to reach 250 points in the 2019 VNL, after Poland's Malwina Smarzek and Dominican Republic's Brayelin Elizabeth Martinez.
• Braga Guimaraes is among the best attackers (45.99%) and receivers (31.09%) in the 2019 VNL.
• Ana Beatriz Correa has won 46 points from blocks in the 2019 VNL, one shy of the current leader Maja Aleksic (47 for Serbia). Beatriz Correa won eight points from blocks in the match against Poland.