.svg)
Brazil Take a 24th Title and LA28
Brazil beat Argentina 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-16) at the Maracanãzinho and won the South American championship without losing a set all week. Gabi was named the most valuable player.
Brazil beat Argentina 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-16) at the Maracanãzinho on Sunday and took South America's place at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
It is a twenty-fourth South American title and a thirteenth Olympic appearance, and Brazil went through the week at five wins from five and fifteen sets from fifteen.
That is the last of the five continental places in the women's tournament. Canada, Thailand, Egypt and Türkiye hold the other four, and there is no continental route left for any women's team anywhere.
The Only Close Set Was the First One
Argentina took the opening set to 24 and lost it, and the two after it went 25-19 and 25-16. Bianca Cugno scored 16 points, the most by anybody on the floor, and Argentina still lost in three.
Brazil blocked thirteen balls to Argentina's two. Gabi scored 13 points and served two of Brazil's four aces, Julia Bergmann scored 12 and Tainara 11.
Tainara started at opposite because Rosamaria is not playing. The confederation said on Friday that a scan had confirmed a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament in her left knee, that it does not need surgery, and that she is out for three to six weeks.
Nobody published an attendance. Every Brazilian account of the night says the building was full and not one of them prints a number, so we are not printing one either.
Brazil Won Every Set and Took Three Awards
Gabi was named the most valuable player. The all-tournament seven has Roberta Ratzke at setter and Ana Cristina at outside hitter alongside her, and the other four places went to Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela.
Three of seven, from the team that did not lose a set. Cugno took the opposite's place, Candelaria Herrera and Alejandra Argüello the middle, Agostina Pelozo the libero and Ana Karina Olaya the other outside hitter.
José Roberto Guimarães, the Brazil head coach, to Web Vôlei after the match, translated here from the Portuguese.
I think having pressure in life is great, but I do not know how each of them was feeling it, knowing that we had not trained so much for this championship, because of the injuries that happened. Total pressure. Today was very tense. It is also a first final for some of these players, and the Maracanãzinho full, the match on fire, the demands, the pressure.
We Called the Winner and Missed the Shape
Argentina, Colombia and Brazil take the three places this championship sends to the 2027 World Cup in Poland. Argentina finished second on four wins from five and Colombia third.
We wrote on Sunday morning that we expected Brazil and expected it to go four sets. The first half was right and the second half was not, and the piece you are reading is the one that has to say so.
Brazil have been at every Olympic Games since Moscow. The next thing they play for is a medal they have not won since 2012.
