U.S. Falls to Brazil in Four

After falling in the first set, Brazil came back to defeat the U.S. 22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-14 in the semifinals of the Eighth Women’s Pan American Cup being held in Miami.

The U.S.-Brazil match was the first since the two team faced each other in the 2008 Olympic Games gold-medal match with the same result – a four-set Brazil victory. Brazil, the top-ranked team in the FIVB world ranking, will face Dominican Republic in the Pan American Cup final set for 6 p.m. on July 4. Meanwhile, the reigning Olympic silver medalist American team will have a rematch against Puerto Rico for third place at 3:30 p.m.

“Congratulations to Brazil,” U.S. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon said. “Our team gave good effort, but we just did not have a consistent execution for the whole match. While I am not happy with losing, there are some things that we can take from this match and learn from.”

The U.S. was paced by Nancy Metcalf (Hull, Iowa) 19 points with 16 kills, two blocks and an ace. Jordan Larson (Hooper, Neb.) added 12 kills on 40 attempts, while Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) produced 10 points via eight kills and two blocks. Kristin Richards (Orem, Utah) chalked up eight points, while Danielle Scott-Arruda (Baton Rouge, La.) chipped in five points. Cynthia Barboza (Long Beach, Calif.) was credited with three points, while Tayyiba Haneef-Park (Laguna Hills, Calif.), Courtney Thompson (Kent, Wash.) and Nellie Spicer (Barrington, Ill.) rounded out the scoring with a point apiece.



Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.) held a team-high 20 digs and 18 excellent receptions on 27 attempts, while Metcalf added six digs. Thompson came off the bench to have a team-high 15 assists.

McCutcheon started Scott-Arruda and Harmotto at middle blocker, Richards and Larson at outside hitter, Metcalf at opposite and Spicer at setter. Thompson started the third and fourth sets after subbing in the first two sets. Barboza started the third set in place of Richards and was a reserve in the other three. Haneef-Park was a reserve in the first set, while Angie Pressey (Lake Mary, Fla.) was a sub in the fourth set.

Brazil’s Sheilla Castro scored a match-high 21 points with 19 kills, one block and an ace. Welissa de Souza Gonzaga and Fabiana Marcelino Claudino checked in with 13 points, followed by Natalia Zilio Pereira’s 12.

“Both teams played well and there were some good rallies,” Brazil Head Coach J. Roberto Guimaraes said. “In the third and fourth sets in particular, we had good sequences in blocking and serving that was the difference.”



The U.S. fell behind 7-4 in the opening set, but quickly came back to tie the set at 10-all with Richards and Larson each scoring two points in a 6-3 run. Neither team held a two-point lead until 19-17 when Brazil followed a Metcalf kill with an error. Larson and Metcalf extended the lead to three at 21-18 with back-to-back kills. Richards sliced consecutive kills yielding set points at 24-20 and the U.S. ended the stanza with another Richards kill at 25-22.

Brazil jumped to an 8-4 lead in the second set opening technical timeout, then increased the margin to nine points at 20-11 on a 12-7 run. The U.S. put together a rally to close to within one at 22-21 on the strength of a 10-2 spurt. However, Brazil answered with a Fabiana kill and Welissa ace at 24-21 and ended the set at 25-22.



The U.S. continued its late second set momentum to take an early 3-0 lead on three straight Scott-Arruda points – two blocks and a kill. However, that lead evaporated on the next three serves and Brazil continued the momentum into the first technical timeout leading 8-5. The Americans recovered to take a 15-13 advantage with an 8-3 spurt keyed by three Metcalf points after trailing 10-7. Brazil assumed the lead back at 16-15 and seesawed back to the U.S. at 18-17. But the U.S. could only score one more point the rest of the set as Brazil closed on an 8-1 run at 25-19.

The U.S. led 4-3 in the fourth set, but Brazil bounced back to take a 9-5 lead with six of the next seven points. The visitors would rattle off seven unanswered points to take a 16-7 lead at the second technical timeout and did not look back in winning the final set 25-14.



Special Thanks to USA Volleyball for their special assistance with this story. In addition we would like to thank Flip Littke for his great pictures and continued assistance to the report.