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RENO, USA (Aug. 16, 2015)
– Brazil swept Venezuela, 28-26, 25-18, 25-20 on Sunday to
advance to the final of the Pan American Cup and set up a
re-match of the final of the Pan American Games just a few weeks
ago.
Brazil (4-0) will play Argentina (4-0) in Monday’s gold medal
match. Different Brazil and Argentina men’s teams also met in
the gold medal match of the Pan American Games on July 26 in
Toronto. Argentina won the gold in that match.
Venezuela (3-2) will play Canada (3-2) in the bronze medal
match.
In Sunday’s match against Venezuela, Brazil led in spikes
(41-34), blocks (7-5) and aces (6-3) and also took advantage of
24 Venezuela errors while committing 22. Brazil’s hitting
efficiency was .387 as compared to .195 for Venezuela.
Outside hitter Douglas Souza paced Brazil with 14 points on nine
spikes, three blocks and two aces. Outside hitter Joao Ferreira
added 11 points on 10 attacks and one ace.
Kervin Pinerua led Venezuela with 14 points on a match-high 11
attacks, one block and two aces.
Venezuela came close to winning the first set. It took set point
at 24-23, but Brazil got a block to tie the score. Brazil took
set point twice before it took the 27-26 lead and Souza nailed
an ace for the victory. Brazil took an early lead in the second
set and never looked back. In the third set, the score was
tied14-14 when Brazil got a 4-0 run to secure the lead and,
eventually the match.
Brazil captain Thiago Veloso
“It was a tough match. I think they played very well and put a
lot of pressure on our team. Sometimes we lost our concentration
and we had trouble because of that. We’re very happy to be in
the final. It was a good match for us but we can do better.”
Brazil head coach Roberley Leonaldo
“It was a good result. Venezuela played very well, especially
their power hitters. And their opposite players played a very
good match in their attacking and cause a lot of problems in our
blocking. For a young team to reach a final in this tournament
is a very good result. We committed a lot of mistakes in the end
with a lot of faults. I think we need to play better tomorrow
for a big rivalry against Argentina. It’ll be a good match.”
Venezuela captain Kervin Urbina Pinerua
“Unfortunately it wasn’t the result we expected. We knew they
were a tough team but we felt like we gave them a good match. We
made a lot of improvements, the passing was better, the defense
was better, we gave it all we had so we’re happy with that.” |
