Macao, China, August 26, 2011 – World Grand Prix debutant Serbia and reigning world champion Russia joined Brazil and the United States in top four at the 2011 FIVB WGP final round with respective wins here on Friday.

Serbia swept Thailand 3-0 and Russia beat the host China in straight sets to finish in top two places of pool A and clinch the last two tickets to Saturday’s semifinals, where Brazil awaits Russia and Serbia challenges the USA.

Jovana Brakocevic converted on 20 of her 41 spiking opportunities to lead the Serbian women, who were participating in the annual tournament for the first time ever, to their third straight victory in Macao over Thailand 25-23, 25-22 and 25-23.

“Congratulations to my team for making the semi-final at our first participation in the FIVB World Grand Prix,” said Serbia head coach Zoran Terzic. “It was a difficult game for us, maybe some of my players expected an easy win. There were many situations when we were nervous, especially when Thailand displayed good defense. But like my captain said, at the crucial moments we won through with our power and experience.”

Later on Friday, Natalya Goncharova and Ekaterina Gamova combined for 43 points to lift Russia over China 25-21, 25-11 and 25-23. The Chinese women, who failed to record one single victory in three tries in front of nearly 3,000 home fans, will play Italy on Saturday for the seventh place.

Brazil marched on toward their ninth FIVB World Grand Prix title as the world No.1 women’s volleyball team rallied past defending champions the United States 3-1 here Friday afternoon to enter the semifinals of the 2011 FIVB World Grand Prix final round as top finisher from round robin pool B.

Thanks to the 22-25, 26-24, 25-21 and 25-20 victory, their third win in as many days in Macao, the Brazilian women improved their overall record in this year’s World Grand Prix journey to an amazing 12-0.

With Steinbrecher Marianne and Pequeno Paula watching from the stand, Pereira Natalia notched up game high 21 points to spearhead the balanced Brazilian offense and Castro Sheilla, Menezes Thaisas and Rodrigues Fernanda each contributed 14 points.

“We saw a very good level of volleyball this afternoon. I'm very happy with the result, and I'm even happier that both teams played well," said Brazil head coach José Roberto Guimarães. “Natalia Pereira returned to the team, which is very important to us in the future matches.”

Suffering their first loss after two wins in the eight-team final round, the United States put their eyes on a final rematch against their unbeaten opponent.

“We made some improvements today that will help us in the upcoming matches, and I hope the two teams can play in the final,” said USA head coach Hugh McCutcheon. “I’m happy with the way we played today though not with the result. I think for both teams the match wasn’t for anything except for the moment of the competition, but I think it’s important for the sport, especially for my team, that we came out and played hard. We wanted to win and did everything we could, but we couldn’t turn a couple of plays at the right time.”

USA got off to a good start with a 6-0 run in the opening set as their defense held off the Brazilian attackers. Brazil failed to get the right breaks as their spikes barely penetrated the USA block. Jordan Larson, Logan Tom and Destinee Hooker were, as usual, lethal in attack for USA. But Brazil bounced back and led by Sheilla Castro and a number of young players the side demonstrated better movement in defense and rejuvenated hitting from Rodrigues Fernanda and Natalia to cut down the USA lead to within two points at 24-22. Destinee Hooker’s kill finally put away the set in favor of the USA although Brazil appeared to find their rhythm.

Brazil continued their hot streak into the second set taking an exact revenge on USA. Sheilla, Natalia and Fernanda pounded the US block to build a sizable lead for Brazil but the USA came back to within one point at 22-21. USA forced Brazil to a tie at 24-24 until Brazil finally found a break in the form of an attack and a block against Tom’s attack by Sheilla and Thaisa Menezes to even the match with one set apiece. In the next two sets, the Brazilian women regained their dominance.

Japan upset Italy 25-23, 25-23 and 25-19 for its first win in the final round and sent the former world champions to its third loss in a row.

Head coach Masayoshi Manabe attributed the victory to the Japanese’ good serving performance.

“Firstly, we are happy to play against Italy, one of the strongest teams in the world. We won today’s match due to a better performance in our serve,” he said.

Finishing third of pool B with a 1-2 record, Japan will go to the 5^th-6^th decider on Saturday against Thailand while Italy is to vie for the seventh against China.

“We played at the same level in the first two sets, but in the third set, we made too many mistakes in attack. There was a crucial moment in the second set, at 21-14 where we had many problems with reception,” said Italy coach Massimo Barbolini. “Japan played better and they deserved the victory.”

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