No. 6 Brazil knocks off No. 9 USA in 9th place semifinals at World Championship

The U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team’s chances of getting the nation’s best finish in more than 10 years at the Youth World Championship ended Saturday.

No. 9 United States lost to No. 6 Brazil 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 25-16 in the semifinals for ninth place at the World Championship on Saturday Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This loss assures the United States (2-5) of an 11th or 12th place finish at the 16-team international team. The United States has not finished better than 10th place in the last five World Championship tournaments.

The United States committed 33 errors — 12 more errors than Brazil — in the four-game loss.

Brazil outside attacker Alan Souza had a match-high 12 kills against the United States. In addition, Jonatas Cardoso added 10 kills and was the only other Brazilian player with double-digit kills.

The United States had two players finish the match with more than 10 kills.

Outside attackers Matthew Tarantino, an incoming freshman recruit for Peppderine, and Austin Kingi, an incoming freshman recruit for UC Santa Barbara, each led the United States with 11 kills.

Brazil had five players with multiple blocks in the victory as it out-blocked the United States 16-12.

With this loss, the United States will play the loser of the other ninth-place semifinals match between No. 4 Iran and No. 10 Egypt for 11th place on Sunday.

Brazil (5-2) will play the winner of the Egypt-Iran match, which will be played later tonight, for ninth place on Sunday.

The United States played both teams earlier in the tournament — defeating Egypt in five games in the first round and losing to Iran in four games in the second round.

The United States reached the ninth-place semifinals after finishing in second place in its consolation second round pool. Despite having a losing round in pool-play, the United States ended in a three-way tie for second place and won the tiebreaker to receive the pool’s final berth to the ninth-place semifinals.

In its last five appearances at the Youth World Championship, the United States has never placed higher than seventh.