Dominicans and Brazilians prepared for crown’s match in Pan Am Cup

Players from Dominican Republic celebrating their come-from- behind victory over Puerto Rico in Pan Am Cup

Miami, Florida,  - The Dominican Republic made a sensational comeback to beat Puerto Rico in a five-set thriller advancing to the gold medal match of the Eighth Women’s Pan American Cup against Brazil, winners over USA on Friday night.

The defending champions recovered from two sets down and a four-point deficit (18-14) in the third frame to secure their fifth appearance in the finals of this qualifier to the annual FIVB World Grand Prix. The score was 34-36, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-9.

Meanwhile, Olympic champions Brazil came back from one set down to defeat world second ranked USA. After losing the opening frame in a well fought battle, the Brazilians finally put everything together and displayed all their weapons the rest of the way to win by score of 22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-14.

The victory sends Brazil to a re-edition of last year’s gold medal match in Mexicali, Baja California against defending champions Dominican Republic.

Brazilians and Dominicans engaged in a sensational five-set contest during the pool play of the event, with the current champions prevailing after two hours of a seesaw battle.

Bethania de la Cruz and Prisilla Rivera paced the Dominican attack with 25 and 19 points respectively. Lisvel Eve contributed 12, Milagros Cabral added 11 and Annerys Vargas chipped in eight points.

Puerto Rican Aurea Cruz, the leading scorer of the competition, recorded 20 points and Karina Ocasio added 20. Sarai Alvarez and Sheila Ocasio scored 17 and 12 respectively.

Sheila Castro led Brazil with 21 points while Fabiana Claudino and Welissa Gonzaga each contributed 13 points. Natalia Pereira came off the bench to chart 12 tallies.

Lefty Nancy Metcalf paced USA with 19 points and Jordan Larsen and Christa Harmotto added 12 and 10 respectively.

Peru and Argentina will meet on Saturday for the fifth position following their victories over Canada and Costa Rica respectively.

Peru defeated the Canadians 29-27, 25-13, 16-25, 25-21 while Argentina defeated the Costa Ricans 25-22, 25-22, 25-16.

Yulissa Zamudio topped the scoring of Peru with 19 points, including four blocks. Leyla Chihuan and Jessenia Uceda added 13 points apiece and Patricia Soto and Carla Ortiz contributed 12 and 9 respectively.

Tiffany Dodds led Canada with 14 points including two blocks and one ace, Tammy Mahon added 13 and Brittney Page contributed four blocks among her 11 tallies.

Georgina Pinedo and Georgina Klug led Argentina with 13 and 11 points respectively and Leticia Boscacci and Florencia Busquets added nine apiece.

Verania Willis carried most of the load of Costa Rican offense with 18 points, 17 of them via attacks. Mariela Quesada added 8 and Angela Willis and Paola Ramirez each contributed seven points.

In the first match of Friday, Mexico rallied from a 2-1 set deficit and 5-2 deficit in the fifth set to defeat Trinidad & Tobago 18-25, 25-15, 20-25, 25-23, 15-13 Friday to capture ninth place. Trinidad & Tobago will play Guatemala on Saturday for 10^th and 11^th position.

Mexico captain Migdalel Ruiz and Olivia Meza had matching 14 points for the winners, while Martha Revuelta charted 12 points for Mexico. Krystle Esdelle was credited with a match-high 23 points for Trinidad & Tobago, while Kelly-Anne Billingy scored an additional 22 points.