The USA vs. Brazil Heavyweight Matchup That Is The Joao Pessoa Elite

My dream almost came true on Friday in Brazil for the Joao Pessoa Elite.

For years, I’ve talked on SANDCAST about the tantalizing possibility of a USA vs. Brazil, NCAA-style matchup: Take the five best USA Volleyball women’s teams and the five best Brazilian women’s teams and let them have at it. Best three out of five takes the cup — The Americas Cup? We’ll think of names later.

For now, we’ll have to settle for what the second round of pool play delivered in Joao Pessoa: Four USA vs. Brazil matchups in a four-hour span.

The results: USA 3, Brazil 1.

For the tournament as a whole, it is USA 5, Brazil 3 on the women’s side.

The one win on the ledger for Brazil on Friday was a shocker, too, a 21-13, 21-13 drubbing handed out by Carol Salgado and Rebecca Cavalcanti over Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher, the unofficial No. 1 team in the world. A shocker in almost equal measure was handed out by Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw, the Hermosa Open champions who beat Ana Patricia and Duda for the second consecutive time, rallying back from down five points in the second set to win, 17-21, 21-19, 15-13. It was a similar matchup the first time these teams met, in Saquarema in April, where Cheng and Shaw won, 16-21, 21-19, 15-13.

Beating Ana Patricia and Duda once is no small thing.

To do so twice in a row, even in a year of relative indifference for the Paris Olympic gold medalists, is a stamp of elite status for Cheng and Shaw.

Julia Donlin and Lexy Denaburg had no trouble with Brazilian qualifiers Flavia and Barbara in a 21-13, 21-8 dusting, and Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen won in similar fashion over Brazil’s Thainara and Simonetti, 21-13, 21-12.

It wasn’t a true matchup of Brazil’s top five vs. the USA’s top five, but it was a teasing glimpse into the epic bout it could be should a Ryder Cup event take place. If that were to be played out, Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft — who won their pool with a sweep over Anouk Verge-Depre and Zoe Verge-Depre, 21-19, 23-21 — would be in, as would World No. 1 Victoria Lopes and Thamela Coradello for Brazil. Hegeile and Vitoria, too, would have been swapped in, and it’s a legitimate wonder who the USA’s fifth team would be: Molly Phillips and Hailey Harward — who broke pool with a three-set win over Paraguay — or Quiggle and Loreen, or someone else. The options are aplenty.

For now, in the real event that is the Joao Pessoa Elite, all USA Volleyball teams have broken pool on the women’s side. Chase Budinger and Miles Evans moved on for the men, while Chaim Schalk and James Shaw bowed out after a pair of three-set losses, finishing 19th in what is a body blow to their World Championships hopes this fall.