Brasil qualifies to the finals, Puerto Rico to play for bronze

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, August 23, 2013.- Brazil qualified to the VIII Men’s Pan American Cup Final after beating Puerto Rico in three sets (25-13, 25-19, 29-27).

Ricardo Lucarelli Sousa scored 13 points while Luan Weber 12 and Mauricio Luiz de Souza 10 for Brazil. On the Puerto Rican side, Ulises Maldonado and Mannix Roman scored 9 apiece.

“This was a good match, Brazil resisted a lot on the net and was very strong with in the middle and on defense. We failed in taking the right choices”, said Roberto Muñiz, captain of Puerto Rico.

“This match was very good for us. We worked a lot with our blocking game and served well. It was complicated for us in the end, but we know how to solve those difficult situation,” Mauricio Borges de Almeida, captain of Brazil said.

“For us this was a great match. Yesterday, Puerto Rico played five sets that is very difficult physically and mentally. We could get the best of it and tactically we played great,” said Brazilian coach Leonaldo Roberley.

“We began to play very slowly. We could improve a Little bit, but the strength and height of Brasil imposed conditions during the match,” said David Aleman, head coach of Puerto Rico.

Brazil will play for the gold medal while Puerto Rico will play for Bronze on Saturday at the Juan de la Barrera Olympic Gym.