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GATINEAU, Canada, June 24, 2015 – Brazil has moved to the top of
Pool B of the U21 Men’s Pan American Cup as they posted a
convincing 3-1 (25-23, 25-18, 13-25, 25-20) win over the United
Sates on Wednesday at the Centre Sportif de Gatineau.
The South American squad, already qualified for the World
Championships this September in Mexico, showed a very consistent
play in all aspects of the game. Trailing 21-23, Rodrigo Leao’s
lethal serve and attack proved crucial as Brazil took the
opening set 25-23.
Brazil continued to show a consistent play to secure the second
set 25-18. The North American squad bounced back in the third
set 25-13 to close in the score, but Brazil recovered their best
level of play and went on to seal the victory 25-20.
Rodrigo Leao led the Brazilian attack with 15 points, followed
by Gabriel Kavalkievicz (11) and Caio Oliveira (10).
Sander Brenden, younger brother of FIVB Volleyball Men's World
Championship MVP Taylor Sander, and Jeffrey Jendryk II led the
USA squad with 14 points each. Andrew Benesh (13) and George
Perinar (12) also produced double digits.
Fernando Kreling, captain of Brazil: "We played a good game. Our
level decreased in the third set, but returned to our best level
to win the game. We are now testing ourselves against teams who
will playing at the World Championships and this is very
important in our preparation for the World Championships.
Against Barbados we will continue to maintain our level.”
Leonardo Seix, head coach of Brazil: "It was a good match. The
US is a strong rival and we also have Chile and Canada in Pool
A. We know the qualities of the US team and our rivalry.
Overall, the team played very well. It has been the most
competitive match we have had so far in preparation for the
World Championships. We had good moments and also down moments,
especially in the third set, when we were dominated by the USA.
We could not respond to their play. We lost our concentration.
We will come back with the game spirit against Barbados
tomorrow. We are here to prepare for the World Championships,
but in every tournament we are entered with the mentality to
win.”
John Hatch, captain of the United States: “There were a couple
of times where we could have made some plays, but I think
overall it was a good first look and it’s a really good
competition. Hopefully we can learn and grow from this and get
better.”
Dan Friend, the head coach of the USA: “I thought we battled
pretty well in the first game, but overall in the match I don’t
think we passed very well. In the first game we kind of broke
down in that area in different spots and Brazil pulled ahead. I
think ultimately we saw that go through the match and in game
three we started to pass a little bit better. In game four we
had a couple opportunities and didn’t capitalize and again our
passing broke down a little bit. First ball contact is the name
of the game, you need to be able to serve and pass and Brazil
did a nice job of serving and we didn’t pass as well as we
needed to.”
Both teams will end their Pool B campaign on Thursday when
Brazil faces off Barbados and the United States takes on El
Salvador. |
