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MIAMI, Florida, July 4, 2009.- Olympic champions
Brazil claimed its second crown in the history
of the Women’s Pan American Cup by scoring a
convincing straight set victory over Dominican
Republic in the gold medal match at University
of Miami on Saturday. The score was 25-18,
25-20, 25-14.
The previous Brazilian title in the event was in
2006 when the competition took place in Puerto
Rico. Dominican Republic was the defending
tournament champion.
The Brazilians’ serves and subsequent blocking
were the keys for the triumph of the South
American representatives. The winners
out-blocked their opponents 14-5.
Sheila Castro led the balanced attack of Brazil
with 15 points including four blocks and Natalia
Pereira had three blocks en route to her 10
tallies. Fabiana Claudino added nine points and
Mari Steinbrecher and Thaisa Menezes contributed
with seven apiece.
Milagros Cabral topped Dominican Republic with
11 points, Lisvel Eve added 8 and Bethania de la
Cruz was limited to only seven points.
“I am happy we won the game and tournament,”
Brazil Head Coach said. “This is not the team
from the 2008 Olympic cycle, as we are starting
a new Olympic cycle. This is the second
tournament we have played this year, and we have
won both events with this roster.”
“I am extremely happy in winning this
tournament, our second of the year,” Brazil
captain Danielle Rodrigues Lins said. “We
started today’s sets slow, but were able to
serve and block well.”
“We had a sub-par performance and played
different than we have the whole tournament,”
Dominican Republic Head Coach Marcus Kwiek said.
“Brazil put pressure on us through its serve and
we had trouble with our service reception.”
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