Brazil wins the Pan Am Cup final – Volleyball news
Four long and thrilling sets saw the U.S. team finally crumble under the pressure of Brazilian attack as the South Americans won the Pan Am Cup with a final set score of 25-23, 21-25, 25-17 and 28-26.
The final of the Pan Am Cup took place on Saturday in Canada after the semi-final match of the same tournament. The decisive match between Brazil and the United States of America was an all out battle that saw both team trade blows for dominance.
Brazil was the favourite to win the tournament after they kicked out the host team, Canada, in the semi-finals, much to the disappointment of the native fans. Since the inception of the Pan Am Cup the Canadian team has not been able to win a single championship.
However, they have been able to get to the top positions fairly often. This time around, Canada was able to grab the bronze medal after handing out a defeat to Puerto Rico.
Both the Brazilian and the U.S. squad came out strong in the opening set of the final. For the most part, most spectators were left on the edge of the seats because neither team was able to take control for long. The neck to neck battle continued but the
Brazilian squad was able to nail the initial set by 25-23.
The loss of the first set sent a much needed wakeup call to the U.S. squad who started off the second set determined to get a win and take the match to level ground. As a result, the U.S. was able to step up their game and give the Brazilians some tough
competition. The match went back and forth for a bit but the U.S. was able to prevail by bagging the second set at 25-21.
Unfortunately for the U.S. squad, they could not capitalise on the momentum generated by winning the second set and let the Brazilians dominate the third. Despite the fact that the Brazilians lost a player due to an injury early in the set, they were still
able to win it at 25-17.
The U.S. fought the fourth set of the game long and hard but the effort came in too late and Brazil was able to seal the deal at 28-26.
After the match had reached its close, the U.S. head coach, Gordon Mayroth appreciated the efforts of the newly crowned champions and said, “Congratulations to Brazil. It took us a little bit to get adjusted. Brazil is a good offensive team, a good serving
team and it took us a little bit to get adjusted to that but once we did I thought we were OK.”
The US had to settle for second place and look forward to meet their nemesis in the next competitions.
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