Host nation Italy shut out the United States while Brazil crushed China in their respective pools at the FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championship in Italy on Wednesday.

The final six has come to play at the Mediolanum Forum in Milan and the home crowd brought in their big guns as Italy goes up against the United States in their opening matchup.

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The match was close in the first set as both teams found their marks to put it at 23-all but an error by the Americans closed their fate.

Italy continued their romp in the next two sets as they blocked USA attacks and made plays that confused American blockers to win it at 25-23, 25-22, 25-20.

Nadia Centoni and Antonella Del Core both scored 14 points to lead the Italian squad with Del Core scoring four points from blocks while Kelly Murphy top scored for the Americans with 11 points.

The Italian team out blocked team USA nine to two and was clearly in high spirits in front of more than 11,000 spectators cheering in their favor.

USA will play Russia next while Italy has a go at the defending champions Russia on Friday in Pool G to determine who will make it to the final four.

The young team of China was totally outclassed by two-time Olympic Gold medalist Brazil in their Pool H matchup as they were crushed in three straight sets 25-19, 25-16, 25-15 which lasted an hour and 17 minutes.

Veteran Fernanda Rodrigues proved to be a force for Brazil as she led her team with 18 points, three of those came from the service line with middle blocker Thaisa Menezes and Jaqueline Pereira De Carvalho both contributing 15 points.

Ting Zhu was the only player of China to score double digits with 10 points.

China will go up against the Dominican Republic next while Brazil will face them on Friday.

TagsNadia Centoni, Kelly Murphy, Fernanda Rodrigues, Ting Zhu