NORCECA Women’s Pan American Cup
- July 8-14, 2018
- Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- Schedule/Results
- Pool C: Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico
Brazil outdid Mexico in every way in a sweep to open Pool C, while Columbia outlasted Argentina in the lone five-set match of Day 1 at the Pan American Cup.
Brazil def. Mexico 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-17)
Eleven blocks and three double-digit scoring efforts helped lead Brazil past Mexico in the Pool C opener.
The Brazilians bested Mexico in kills (39-29) and blocks (11-4) and earned one more point on errors (21-20). Both teams served up four aces.
“It was a battle point by point,” Brazilian coach Wagner Fernandez said. “We did not have many information about their team only about some individual players like Samantha (Bricio). Our team has been together for 3 and a half weeks and this was our first match. It was a good testing for our team.”
Bruna Honorio Marques paced the Brazilians with 16 points on 13 kills and three blocks. Francynne Jacintho (12) and Thaisa Daher de Menezes (11) followed. Daher de Menezes notched nine kills, while Jacintho put up a team-high four blocks to go with her seven putaways and an ace.
Andrea Rangel led the way for Mexico with 13 points on 12 kills and an ace. Samantha Bricio also scored in double digits adding 10 points on eight kills and a team-high two aces.
“It was a close match up for most of the sets but we were not able to close them,” Rangel said. “Our setter made some mistakes and we also lost the focus.”
Columbia def. Argentina 3-2 (25-16, 25-16, 22-25, 18-25, 17-15)
Argentina rallied from two sets down but ran out of gas in the tiebreak, falling in five sets to Columbia.
“We were caught off guard in the first two sets,” Argentinian coach Guillermo Orduna said. “Then we recovered and adjusted but in the tie-breaker we made more mistakes.”
Amanda Coneo scored a match-high 20 points to pace Columbia, while Dayana Segovia (18), Maria Martinez (14) and Valerin Carabali (11) followed. Coneo downed a match-high 19 kills, while Marinez added 14 and Segovia chipped in 12 putaways. Carabali tacked on six putaways to go with a match-high four blocks and an ace. Segovia served up a team-best three aces and added three blocks.
Five players posted double-digit scoring efforts for the Argentines: Elina Rodriguez (16), Lucia Fresco (15), Paula Yamila Nizetich (15), Julieta Constanza Lazcano (12) and Florencia Busquets (12). Rodriguez put down a team-leading 14 kills, and added a block and an ace. Nizetich chipped in 12 putaways, a team-best two aces and block.
“We played very well for the first two sets but then lost the concentration,” Columbian captain Maria Marin said. “In the fifth set we tried to reduce the mistakes and improved our blocking.”
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