2016-09-18 17:10:00 CEST
Evandro/Pedro Solberg power through to the final
There was to be no fairytale for Tri Bourne and John Hyden as the only men’s team at the Swatch World Tour Finals that didn’t go to the Olympic Games were denied a place in the final by a superb display by powerhouses Pedro Solberg and Evandro Goncalves.
Earlier in the week the Americans came out on top in a three-set classic in the pool play but the Brazilians got their revenge by booking their place in the final with a straight sets victory.
Having won the Long Beach Grand Slam in the lead-up to Toronto the boys from South America are in red-hot form and their victory in front of a packed Center Court at Polson Pier guarantees them a second successive medal at the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals after winning bronze in Fort Lauderdale last year.
They will either play Canadians Saxton/Schalk or countrymen Alison/Bruno in today’s final which gets underway at 3pm.
“I’m Brazilian so I want Brazil to win of course!” Pedro told the crowd. “But I understand the crowd wants Canada to win.”
On the game itself, Evandro told us: “We lost to them before so today we came with different tactics and we came away with a much better performance. If we play good and happy and keep doing the things we have been doing since the elimination started, we have a chance of gold.”
We discover which teams served, spiked and sided-out the best…
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