Brazil top Puerto Rico in Women’s Volleyball opener

LIMA, Peru, August 7, 2019. - Brazil topped Puerto Rico 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-15) in the women’s volleyball opening match of the eighteenth Lima 2019 Pan American Games on Wednesday at the Multisport Complex El Callao.

Brazil’s sweeping opening performance kept Puerto Rico under control to grab their first pool B victory.

Brazil led with 33-26 attacking margin, 9-4 advantage in blocks and 5-1 in aces. Brazil scored 28 points on Puerto Rican errors, against 16 on their side.

Lorenne Geraldo scored 13 points on 9 kills, 3 blocks and one ace in Brazil’s victory, joined by Lana Conceicao with 9 points on 8 kills and one ace. Puerto Rico’s leading scorer was opposite player Paulina Prieto with 9 points on 8 kills and one ace.

On day two of competition, Brazil (1-0) will face Argentina and Puerto Rico (0-1) meets United States.

Comments:

Macris Carneiro, captain of Brazil: “It was a match with many ups and downs, natural in a debut, but with an important consistency. We started with deficit and our attitude remained high. We remained confident in our capacity to recover from any difficulties. And this was a good result for our group’s confidence”.

Natalia Valentín, captain of Puerto Rico: “This isn’t the Puerto Rico we are used to see; nothing was going our way, in any aspect of the game. Brazil has a strong serve and counterattack, it’s a shame we couldn’t solve. Tomorrow is another day and we remain focused”.

Ze Roberto Guimarães, Head coach of Brazil: “The group worked well. I was worried because Puerto Rico comes from a strong Pre-Olympic, but we were able to break their passing with serves. Our defensive system also worked well and we were effective in blocking-defense and counterattacking. We committed few errors and that was from start to finish. I am happy with our presentation”.

José Mieles, Head coach of Puerto Rico: “It was a disaster, we weren’t able to execute due to many factors, one of them the time-gap from Poland; we couldn’t’ execute any skill well. We must continue working; we have two more important matches”.