Brazil wins semifinal ticket in dramatic tie-break comeback

LIMA, Peru, August 2, 2019.- Brazil won their semifinal ticket in dramatic five-set comeback to United States 3-2 (23-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-19, 15-9) in pool B of the Lima 2019 Pan American Games on Friday at the Multisport Complex El Callao.

Brazil’s dramatic comeback win granted their way into the semifinals and that of Chile who earlier beat Mexico and finishes second in pool B. Brazil will face Cuba in semifinals and Chile plays against defending champion Argentina. United States will face Puerto Rico to settle for fifth place.

Despite United States’ sizeable 11-4 margin in blocks and surprising Brazil taking sets one and two, Brazil sealed the win with a huge 65-48 advantage in kills and 10-7 in aces. Brazil allowed 29 points on errors against 30 from United States.

Brazil used a balanced offence led by Aboubacar Dramé (18pts), Eduardo Loh (18pts), Eduardo Barreto (15pts) and Matheus Bispo dos Santos (12pts). United States also had four players leading their attack with Kyle Ensing (18pts), Brendan Schmidt (14pts), Brenden Sander (13pts) and Price Jarman (10pts).

Comments:

Eduardo Loh, one of Brazil’s top scorers: “We almost died from a heart attack on the court. The word that describes the match is Recovery! We were down 2-0, it was a great moment of pressure and we looked for our best skill: team effort, vibrate. The younger ones want to fight for their space and that will be the case in most times, with heart. We are very happy”.

Marcelo Fronckowiak, Head coach of Brazil: “What’s important is qualifying, remain in the tournament! We were at the edge of an abyss, almost dead and we knew how to come out. United States was spectacular. We came from behind, our game level was low and our solution was tactical: we changed our serves, we lowered our anxiety. My job was to calm my team and look for the best strategy”.

Brenden Sander, one of United States’ top scorers: “It was a great match, both teams played really well, with good plays from both sides; unfortunately at the end we had a little bit of trouble in the passing and our offensive system struggled”.

Milan Zarkovic, Head coach of United States: “In the end we didn’t keep consistency in our performance. We witnessed a more experienced team take over; we were not finished after leading 2-0 and from there on Brazil was superior”.