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TORONTO, Canada, July 16, 2015 – Defending
champions Brazil overcame a battling Puerto Rico 3-2 (23-25,
28-26, 25-17, 24-26, 15-10) in the first contest of the women’s
volleyball tournament of the Pan American Games at Exhibition
Centre on Thursday.
Adenizia Silva had 20 points, including a
match-high six blocks, to lead the winners. Jaqueline Carvalho
and Fernanda Rodrigues contributed 16 and 14, respectively,
while Rosemarie Montibeller chipped in with 10 points in the
victory.
Stefanie Enright led all the scorers in the match
with 21 points in the losing effort. Aurea Cruz was next with 16
while siblings Karina and Sheila Ocasio finished with 12 and 9
points, respectively.
Brazil outblocked their opponents 15-11 and made
fewer unforced errors 32-42.
Ze Roberto, Coach of Brazil: ““The Pan American Games are like
one mini Olympic Games. Obviously
there are more teams competing at the Olympics but the
atmosphere is similar here. You have to prepare a lot. Puerto
Rico played very well, a very demanding team. We have to focus
and concentrate more. We aspire to get into the final phase, but
you have seen that this is not easy. There is a lot of work to
do here, to analyze and you don’t sleep as much as you want,
because you have to study your rivals.”
Jose
Mieles, coach of Puerto Rico: “I am satisfied about reaching a
fifth set against Brazil but a little bit disappointed about the
result. Our players gave their best and we got two important
points.”
Jaqueline Pereira, player of Brazil: “Puerto Rico started
playing very tough. We have very young team. The girls felt a
little bit nervous at the beginning. We didn’t have a lot of
time practicing together, just a couple of times before the Pan
Am Games. However in the end we could win. It doesn’t matter if
it was 3-0, 3-1 or 3-2, but we could do it. A victory is always
important, even more to begin with one”.
Stephanie Enright, player of Puerto Rico: “We have worked hard
for this tournament. We wanted the result and didn’t fall in
that fourth set that was good for us to get into the fifth.
However we could not achieve the victory. I felt good about
scoring those two points. We come from a very long summer
training hard in high level tournaments and playing against
Brazil is always a good parameter to measure your skills as a
player and as preparation for the upcoming tournaments.” |
