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Defending champions Brazil, second-seeded Russia and 10th-seeded Germany shut out their respective opponents at the start of the second round at the Men's Volleyball World Championship in Poland on Wednesday.

Wallace De Souza top scored with 14 points to lead Brazil in a victory over Bulgaria 25-15, 25-21, 25-21 in Pool F at the Spodek Hall in Katowice.

Russia had an easy time against Finland as they clobbered the Finnish team in three straight sets 25-10, 25-18, 25-16.

Dimitriy Ilinykh led the Russians with 16 points followed by Dimitriy Muserskiy and Nikolay Apalikov who contributed 13 and 12 points respectively.

Germany dominated China in a three-set win 25-19, 25-22, 25-17 as Gyorgy Grozer scored game-high of 17 points.

Also in Pool F, Canada won over Cuba in a close five-set match 25-27, 25-18, 23-25, 25-11, 15-13.

Dallas Soonias and Nicholas Hoag combined for 33 points to beat the Cubans in a two hour matchup.

Brazil leads with 12 points in the overall standings followed closely by Russia with 11 and Germany with nine points.

China is last in the standings and will go up against Brazil on Thursday.

In Pool E, host nation Poland suffered its first loss in the tournament against the United States in four sets 27-29, 22-25, 27-25, 23-25.

The dynamic duo of Taylor Sander and Matthew Anderson proved to be unstoppable as they scored 23 and 21 points respectively to top score the Americans while Mariusz Wlazly to lead the Polish nationals with 17 points.

Third seeded Italy also suffered a loss against Serbia in three straight sets 19-25, 27-29, 22-25 while France and Iran continued their winning ways against Argentina and Australia in four sets.

France is on top of Pool E with 10 points followed closely by Poland and Serbia with nine points each, and Iran with eight points.

The top three teams from both pools will advance to the knockout rounds where the last four teams will compete in the finals of tournament slated to start Sept. 20.

TagsWallace De Souza, Dimitriy Ilinykh, Gyorgy Grozer, Taylor Sander, Matthew Anderson