U.S. women's volleyball team falls to Brazil

If the U.S. women's volleyball team was playing for bragging rights, it didn't demonstrate that on Saturday.

The U.S. suffered its worst defeat of a three-match exhibition series against No. 1 Brazil 4-1 at Clune Arena.

Brazil captured its second win in four days, the latter coming in a 25-16, 25-20, 25-18, 20-25, 15-8 victory over the No. 4-ranked Americans.

Because it was an exhibition, the match was predetermined to go five sets regardless of the outcome.

Both teams split the first two matches at the Olympic Training Center. Brazil won 3-2 Wednesday and the U.S. won 3-2 Friday.

U.S. coach "Jenny" Lang Ping cited court and ball changes as reasons why the Americans had difficulty competing Saturday.

"Our players (got) some good experience," she said. "Even today, we didn't play as well in the last two matches, and we learned from them ... we try to learn and get better. So we need to get adjustments quick, and have better ball control."

The U.S. has a chance to evaluate players at the World Grand Prix later this month. The team must decide its final roster by July 23.