Varna, Bulgaria, August 9, 2019 - Reigning Olympic champions Brazil began their Tokyo 2020 qualifying campaign with a quick straight-set win over Puerto Rico (25-23, 25-19, 25-19) in the first match in Pool A of the FIVB Tokyo Volleyball Qualification. Ricardo Lucarelli was the top scorer of his team with 14 points, followed by Isac Santos with 13. Pablo Guzman accounted for 11 of Puerto Rico's.
Brazil captain Bruno Rezende: “This first game was very important to us. We really respect the team of Puerto Rico. We didn’t know very much about their squad and that’s why we were kind of surprised in the first set. We played a bit nervously and we had a lot of difficulties to block and defend. We started serving better in the second set and managed to dominate till the end of the match. At the end the most important thing is the win. Now it’s time to rest for a while and to prepare for our next game against Egypt.”
Brazil player Ricardo Lucarelli: “Every beginning of a tournament is hard. The lack of information for the team of Puerto Rico made the start even harder and made us a little bit stressed during the game. We had many up and downs in the match but at the end we won in straight sets which was very important. Tomorrow against Egypt we have to increase our level of communication on the court.”
Puerto Rico coach Oswald Antonetti: “We came in this tournament with a free mentality. I think we played well against such a tough opponent. Now after the match we have great feelings about playing good tomorrow too. We keep improve our performance match by match.”
Puerto Rico captain Maurice Torres: "Today we showed that we can compete against a team like Brazil. Maybe a lot of people didn’t expect it. I think we had moments we played very well and some others we were not focused enough for example at the end of the first set. We lost a couple of very important points. I think we keep getting better as a team and we show that we can perform in a high level. Tomorrow we face Bulgaria and we have to play even harder than today. It is going to be tough game because it is not only a very strong team but they will have the supportof their home crowd.”