Defending champions Brazil cruised into the final of the men's World Volleyball Championships with a convincing 3-1 (25-19 15-25 25-22 25-12) victory over Serbia and Montenegro on Saturday.
"It was a very tense match and both teams made a lot of mistakes but we served better and blocked better," Brazil coach Bernardo Rezende told reporters said after the match at Yoyogi Gymnasium in central Tokyo. "Now we have to turn the page and think about tomorrow." Brazil will face unbeaten Poland in Sunday's final after the Poles overcame Bulgaria 3-1 (25-20 26-28 25-23 25-23).
Despite offering fierce resistance in the second set, Serbia and Montenegro had no answer for the Brazilians' powerful spikes and they were eventually overwhelmed in the fourth set. Spike king Gilberto "Giba" Godoy was Brazil's top scorer with 19 of their 90 points. Poland found it much tougher going against Bulgaria, but behind the attack of Michal Winiarski (20 points) and Mariusz Wlazly (18 points), they just managed to hold off their fellow Europeans.