Brazil Is Perfect in Preliminaries

Brazil completed a perfect 5-0 run through Group A of the men’s volleyball tournament by defeating Cuba in three grueling games.

Giovanne Gavio had 10 kills and 19-year-old star Dante Amaral had nine for the Brazilians in the 28-26, 30-28, 25-18 victory today at Sydney.

Brazil will play either Argentina or South Korea in the quarterfinals, depending on the outcome of the other matches.

Cuba dropped to third in Group A by losing a tiebreaker to the Netherlands. Both teams went 4-1, but the Netherlands had a better record in games won versus games lost.

The Netherlands, the 1996 gold medalist, closed out group play by getting past Spain (1-4), 25-18, 25-17, 25-26, 25-21. Spanish hitter Rafael Pascual had 27 kills.

The Dutch advance to play Yugoslavia, which already has clinched third place in Group B, in one quarterfinal. Yugoslavia had one match to go, trying to eliminate the unpredictable South Koreans.

Spain still could advance to the round of eight as the No. 4 seed from Group A, depending on what happened between Australia and lowly Egypt later.

A victory by the Aussies (1-3) would put them in the quarterfinals and mark a stunning Olympic debut for a program that started from nothing in 1993.

Russia (4-1) clinched second place in Group B by defeating Argentina, 25-23, 25-15, 25-20.

Russia will play the Cubans in the best matchup of the quarterfinals.