China vanquishes Brazil in volleyball quarterfinal

Faces buried in hands and tears falling, the Brazilian women's volleyball team lost to China in a five-set quarterfinal match on Tuesday.

It was another heartbreaking defeat for the host country, only hours after its women's soccer team fell in a penalty shootout to Sweden.

China rallied from losing the first set to stun the shaky two-time defending champion 15-13 in the decisive fifth.

As China celebrated the biggest upset yet and quieted a stunned crowd, Brazil captain Fabiana pulled her team together in a huddle. While Fabiana's kill saved one match point to make it 14-13 in the third, Brazil had a pair of costly late service errors.

Brazil had been the heavy favorite to face the United States in a potential gold-medal match after beating the Americans in the championship match in each of the past two Olympics.

China is now on a path for a third volleyball gold under head coach "Jenny" Lang Ping, a former player who coached the US to a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.

"Today we proved our ability as a team after making mistakes in a shaky start," the coach said. "Now we do not fear anything. Except for the first set, it was a spectacular performance by our team that never gave up."

Unnerved by the loud cheering and booing of Brazilian supporters in Rio's packed Maracanazinho stadium, China took the lead in the third set with a succession of unstoppable spikes by top scorer Zhu Ting.

Brazil fought back in the fourth, but China prevailed in the fifth.

A young China team that had been far from steady before Tuesday played its best, most consistent match yet.

China will now face upstart the Netherlands, which beat South Korea in four sets. The Dutch volleyballers are in their first Olympics in 20 years and went 4-1 in group play behind the US.

Meanwhile, Karch Kiraly's top-ranked US squad moved one step closer to its goal of capturing the program's first volleyball gold by defeating familiar opponent Japan in straight sets to reach the semifinals.

"Before we go into any match with Japan we have to know we need to have a lot of patience," outside hitter Kim Hill said.

The unbeaten US (6-0) won 25-16, 25-23, 25-22 and has dropped just five sets all tournament. The Americans will face Serbia, a straight-set winner over Russia, in Thursday's semifinals.

"Our approach is the same every time, so it didn't even really feel like an Olympic quarterfinal match," Kiraly said.

The US has faced Japan more times than any other team since 1983. The Americans have won their last three meetings on the Olympic stage, opening the 2008 Beijing Games with a four-set victory and sweeping Japan in a match at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

"I don't have any expectations. Others may have them, but I don't," said Kiraly, the only person to win gold as a player in beach and indoor volleyball and looking to become the first as a coach and player.

Serbia lost in four sets to the US during pool play but pulled off a surprising five-set victory at last year's World Cup in Japan that forced the Americans to qualify for Rio in January.