Wallace passes 200-point milestone in Brazil's 3-0 sweep over Australia

Melbourne, Australia, June 22, 2018 - Wallace de Souza took his individual points for the men's FIVB Volleyball Nations League past the magical 200 milestone when he led Brazil to a confidence-restoring 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-19) sweep against Australia on Friday.

After losing their last three matches, the Olympic champions desperately needed a big performance to get their campaign back on track and once again it was Wallace who answered the call.

The towering opposite spiker finished with a game-high 16 points, featuring 14 spikes, as the South Americans cruised to victory in an hour and a half after losing all three of their matches in Bulgaria last week.

Brazilian wing spiker Lucas Loh was a constant menace at the net, chalking up 12 points, while middle blocker Lucas Saatkamp chipped in with 11, made up of nine kills and two blocks.

Paul Carroll led the way for the Australians with 13 spikes in his 14-point haul and was well supported by Nehemiah Mote, who finished with eight points in a highly entertaining match that thrilled the crowd at Melbourne's Hisense Arena.

Ranked 16th in the world, the Australians went into the Pool 17 clash on a five-match winning streak but were no match for the physical and skilled Brazilians, who had won each of their previous nine head-to-head encounters at world level.

Wallace took his total for the competition to 208 points to join China's Jiang Chuan as the only men to crack the double century and fittingly, the 30-year-old sealed his team's victory with a perfectly struck spike down the middle of the court.

With the win, Brazil improved to 9-4 in the competition and in a much better position to make the top six and qualify for the finals, while Australia fell to 5-8.

Brazil's next opponent on Saturday are the reigning world champions Poland while the pool hosts Australia tackle Argentina in the final round of preliminary games.

Source: http://www.fivb.org/viewPressRelease.asp?No=76235&Language=en#.Wy1gcxL-jOQ