Brazil qualifies to Pan American Games semifinals

LIMA, Peru, August 9, 2019. - Brazil qualified to the Lima 2019 Pan American Games semifinal round edging United States 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-17) on Friday at the Multisport Complex El Callao of Lima Peru.

Brazil with 2-1 win-loss record moves into semifinals as one of the two top finishers in pool B along with Argentina who qualified yesterday; they will just have to wait the result between Argentina and Puerto Rico to learn their final pool-play position. United States will play for placing matches.

Brazil led in all aspects of the game, with 43-37 advantage in attacks, 8-5 in blocks and 6-4 in serves. The South Americans scored on 18 errors from the U.S. against 14.

Lorenne Geraldo was Brazil’s top scorer with a match-high of 23 points including 22 kills, and Paula Borgo added 12 points on Brazil’s side. Krystal Rivers led United States with 13 points on 10 kills and 3 aces, while Sarah Wilhite contributed with 12 points.

Comments:

Brazilian Lorenne Geraldo, top scorer: “The game against United States was a final for our team. We studied them well late last night. We had to win to qualify into the semifinals. All the team performed well and I think that’s what made the difference with United States. We are really glad with our performance”.

José Roberto Guimarães, Head coach of Brazil: “The team improved in all the fundaments of the game today on the court. Paula began well and she gave a good energy to the group. Even if she didn’t play in her usual position, she was effective in higher balls and distributed the game along with Lorennne. The team was organized, defending better and the passing was more regular. Our game-level is back”.

Robert Browning, Head coach United States: “It was tough; Brazil is very good and they played really well, their attack was so strong today. We did a good job serving but their attack, even when they didn’t receive very well, served off and we had a hard time with that. What’s hard for us is that we didn’t play at our potential, we weren’t close to play the way we can, we played poorly, never found a rhythm and we know we can play a lot better. We have another match tomorrow; we will regroup and be ready”.

Krystal Rivers, top scorer of United States: “We came out with a lot of intensity, but our execution wasn’t there. We had moments but we just couldn’t stop them, especially in the first two sets they were at a high level, they were steady and executed well”.