Brazil dominated USA and advanced to the finals

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, July 6, 2006.- Brazil advanced to the match for the gold medal of the Women’s Pan American Cup with a convincing triumph over USA in four sets by score of 21-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-10. The Brazilians made an outstanding comeback after being one set down and falling behind 13-18 in the second set. The blocking of Brazil, touching most of the American spikes, was one of the keys for the turn around. Fabiana Claudino led Brazil with 19 points and Mari Steinbrecher had 16. Valeska Menezes and Caroline Gattaz also finished in double digits with 14 and 11 respectively. Tayyiba Haneef, Katherine Wilkins and Nancy Metcalf had 13, 11 and 10 respectively for USA. “After a slow start we began to serve better in the second set and it allowed us to improve our blocking and the counterattacks,” said Roberto Guimaraes, the Brazilian coach. “It is a very important victory for our team against a team like USA. You have to play good to beat a team like this.”