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MIAMI, Florida, July 2, 2009.- Reigning Olympic
champions Brazil swept Peru 25-11, 25-19, 25-14
in a battle of South American teams and moved to
a semi final match against United States Friday
night in the Eighth Women’s Pan American Cup at
the University of Miami’s BankUnited Center.
The defeat dropped the Peruvians to the 5-8
positions round where they will compete against
Canada, Costa Rica and the loser of the
Argentina-Puerto Rico match.
The strong Brazilian blocking proved to be a big
difference in the match as they outscored Peru
17-3 in that department.
Sheila Castro led the balanced scoring of Brazil
with 13 points, while Mari Steinbrecher and
Thaisa Menezes each contributed 12 tallies with
4 and 3 blocks respectively.
Leyla Chihuan paced Peru with 11 points and
Patricia Soto and Yulissa Zamudio charted nine
points apiece.
“I want to make it clear that Brazil is the
current Olympic champion but this is a new team
in a new cycle of preparation with some of the
players that went to the Olympics,” said Roberto
Guimaraes, the Brazilian coach. “With that being
said, we played well, served well and blocked
and defended well.”
“Brazil is a very strong team in comparison to
Peru and these matches are important for us to
know where we are,” said Natalia Malaga, the
assistant coach of Peru.
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