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Check out the men’s volleyball matches from the FIVB World League Final Round to follow today and how to follow them live.
United States (4-6, 0-1 Pool K, 1 point) vs. Serbia (6-3, 0-0 Pool K, 0 points)
Match vitals: 5:40 p.m. (3:40 p.m. CST) in Curitiba, Brazil
Follow live: Live stats, In-match tweets, TV (Universal HD)
Season series: Serbia leads 1-0
NCAA players on U.S. roster: TJ DeFalco (Long Beach State); Jeff Jendryk (Loyola); Taylor Averill (Hawai’i 2012-15); Carson Clark (UC Irvine 2008-12); Micah Christenson (USC 2012-15); Thomas Jaeschke (Loyola 2013-15) Garrett Muagututia (UCLA 2007-10); Dan McDonnell (UC Irvine 2011-12); Ben Patch (BYU 2013, 2016-17); Taylor Sander (BYU 2011-14); Kawika Shoji (Stanford 2007-10); Erik Shoji (Stanford 2009-12); David Smith (UC Irvine 2004-07); Dustin Watten (Long Beach State 2005-09)
NCAA players on Serbia roster: None
What to know: The scenario is pretty simple for the United States — win its open pool-play finale or it is eliminated from the FIVB World League Final Round. The United States concludes the two-match pool-play stage with a match against Serbia and needing a victory in three or four games to be assured semifinals berth. This must-win match comes a day after the United States lost to France in five games to begin pool-play. In the decisive fifth game, the United states blew a three-point lead and France had a 7-1 run to help it secure the victory. Former BYU All-American opposite Ben Patch finished with a team-high 16 kills on a 45.71 percent offensive efficiency. In addition, former BYU All-American outside attacker Taylor Sander had 12 kills against France. Both Patch and Sander entered the final round as the two of the nine players in the World League with more than 100 kills. Despite the pool-play opening loss, former USC All-American setter Micah Christenson guided the United States to a better offensive efficiency than France at 45.90 percent and 43.38 percent and set four U.S. players to finish with double-digit kills. Along with Patch and Sander, Loyola middle attacker Jeff Jendryk had 10 kills and zero attack errors. This was the second consecutive match that Jendryk finished with no attack errors. The All-American senior in the last two matches has a combined 19 kills on a .613 attack percentage. The defending World League champions Serbia begins its finals after finishing the preliminary round in third place. Serbia also defeated the United States in four games in its World League opener last month. Outside attacker Marko Ivonic in that victory finished with both a match-high 13 kills and four aces. Ivonic at the start of the final round also led the World League with a 53.94 offensive efficiency and was among the top 15 scorers in the tournament. Both Serbia and France will clinch semifinals berth with a U.S. loss. The United States, along with a three or four-game victory clinching a semifinal berth, would still have a chance to make the semifinals with a five-game victory. In that scenario, though, the United States would likely need the pool-play match between Serbia and France on Thursday to be decided in three or four games.
Russia (5-4, 0-0 Pool J, 0 points) vs. Canada (5-5, 0-1 Pool J, 0 points)
Match vitals: 3:05 p.m. (1:05 p.m. CST) in Curitiba, Brazil
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets
Season series: First meeting
NCAA players on Canada roster: None
NCAA players on Russia roster: None