The Brazilian team debuted with a victory at the U23 Pan Am Cup over the Dominican Republic in straight sets (25-20, 25-20, 25-13) on day two of the international volleyball championships being held at the Langley Events Centre.
Henrique Batagim was the best scorer for the South Americans with a total of 13 points, while Dominican Pedro Luis García finished with a team-high 14 points.
Flavio Gualberto and Kelvin Campechano were the top blockers with four each for Brazil and Dominican Republic respectively.
“We had a very well-balanced match tonight, but we still can improve,” said Leonardo Carvalho, the Brazilian coachl.
“The Dominican team played much better than in their first match against Argentina as they had obviously just come off of a long trip.”
Dominican Republic coach Osiel Vazquez added: “They showed more consistency in the attack, service and blocking game. Those were key factors to their victory. Anyway I am glad for the job my team did in the first two sets, which were very even, but in the third Brazil overcame against us.”
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Argentina defeated Mexico in straight sets (25-16, 25-23, 25-11) in the other match on Sept. 26.
Gonzalo Lapera registered a total of 21 points for Argentina, while Mexico’s captain Mauricio Lopez was the top scorer for Mexico with 8.
The captain of Argentina, Gonzalo Quiroga, stated that, even though he could not play after pulling a muscle, the team’s plan worked as expected. “We got a good victory against a good team that showed a great level in their first match (against Canada), but we did what we had to do and our staff also did a great scouting job,” he said.
Mexico’s Lopez mentioned: “This kind of match was very difficult for us. They didn’t let any balls fall, and fought for all of them. We were lacking spirit in the battle, and didn’t defend and took the risks and challenges. That was the main goal but we could not achieve it.”
For coach Argentina Fabian Muraco, the tactical plan worked. “We did it as we expected. Sometimes when you have a young team sometimes it doesn’t happen. We have come here to prepare for our World Championship Qualification that will be in October (in the U21 category).”
Meanwhile, Mexico coach Oscar Licea, said this was another experience to review the state of the team nine months ahead of the U19 World Championship.
“The work done by Argentina is very well noticed, very well organized. This will also help us because the boys have to grow up mentally and have to work harder for the World Championship ahead.”
Both teams are back on the court Sept. 27 with Brazil playing Argentina at 6 p.m. and Dominican Republic playing Canada at 8 p.m. Mexico has the day off.
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All matches for the event are being streamed live and are available on a pay per view basis.
