Brazil will enter the Pan American Cup with a squad formed by teen-agers but still they have to be considered as one of the top sides in the competition to take place in Mexicali and Tijuana, Mexico on June 18-26.

The Brazilians will go to Mexico with the same team that won the bronze medal during the 2003 Girls’ U-18 World Championship in Poland.

The South Americans finished with a 6-1 record in that event with their only loss coming in five sets against China, the eventual champions.

Despite their youth this is a team with plenty experience playing together. Last year and before the world event in Poland, they played 13 matches in Europe against teams from Russia, Poland and Czech Republic winning all but one of them.

The potential starting six of the team coached by Antonio Rizola Neto, is the one of Ana Tiemi Takagui, Veronica Brito, Thaisa Menezes, Adenizia Silva, Fernanda Rodrigues and Regiane Bidias with Priscila Bello as libero.

During the World Championship in Poland, Adenizia was the top blocker with an average of 1.00 by set and Thaisa was fourth with a 0.93 average.

Three Brazilians finished among the top ten spikers with Regiane leading the way with a 39.84 percentage of success good for the seventh place. She was immediately escorted by Veronica (39.71) and Fernanda (39.71).

Ana Tiemi, of Japanese ancestry, was the third best setter with an average of 9.41 per set and also was the fifth best server with a 0.37 percentage.

Fernanda finished sixth in the scoring department with 93 points and Veronica and Thaisa were in the positions 17 and 18 with 75 and 74 points respectively.

The complete squad is formed by: Regiane Bidias, Juliana Amaral, Veronica Brito, Gabriela Morelli, Adenizia Silva, Thaisa Menezes, Natalia Manfrin, Aline Siqueira, Camila Torquette, Mayara  Bacha, Fernanda Rodrigues, Nayara Cruz, Sara Ulrich, Michele Pavao, Ana Takagui, Priscila Bello, Suelen Pinto and Suellje Oliveira.