Brazil to face Argentina in the semi-final match of the Men’s Pan Am Cup – Volleyball News
Brazil reached the semi-final stage of the VII Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup by edging out Canada in the four-set affair on Thursday.
The match took place at the Ricardo Arias sports hall in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and ended with following result: 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 25-18, 25-13). The South American squad will now take on Argentina in the first semi-final match on Friday. Argentina
clawed its way to the semis via prelims. The ‘navy blue and white’ shirts closed the first round of the tournament with 3-0 record and booked a slot in the influential semi-final round.
Speaking of Brazil’s last match, the victory was very much credited to Tiago Gatiboni, who contributed match-high 14 points. Three other Brazilians also went into double-digit scores. Mauricio Borges, Alan Souza Ferreira, and Henrique Rodriguez added 13,12,
and 11 points respectively.
Canadian team, on the other hand, failed to give out a consistent performance. None of the players could go higher than 10 points. Dane Pischke was the only Canadian player with double digits (10).
The young guns of Canadian team showed an ambition for victory in the first frame. Brazil was generally considered a better team in the match. However, Canada displayed good effort and managed to dismiss Brazil with a small lead, 25-23.
The loss of opening set simply put the South American team on fire. They showed no mercy in the second set and engaged the counterparts in long rallies. Brazil locked Canada at a low score of 16 and achieved set points.
Moreover, Brazil improved to 2-1 in the match by winning third set at 25-18. Canada was dragged under huge pressure in fourth set, while Brazil enjoyed a great rhythm. Fourth set ended with final score of 25-13 and Brazil marched away with victory.
The match was followed by the official press conference, which was attended by representatives of the both teams. The mentor of losing side Lawrence McKay was in the hot seat to answer probing questions by the media personnel. The coach appreciated the effort
of his team that comparatively performed better.
The Head Coach of Brazilian team Leonardo Carvalho also had his say about the match. He stated: "The Canadian team is very young but they have a very strong blocking and good defense, which created many difficulties to us."
Brazil’s captain Raphael Vieira de Oliveira commented: "The first set was very bad as the Canadians put us in trouble. We are happy about reaching the semifinals, but to win we need to play better against the Argentineans tomorrow".
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