Brazil and Argentina continued their unbeaten runs in the South American Championship, while Venezuela secured a hard-fought victory over Bolivia in the third round of competition.
Argentina made it three wins from three by sweeping Chile. The opening set proved the closest of the match, with the defending champions edging it 28-26 before taking firm control of the next two. Manuel Armoa paced Argentina with 17 points, while Vicente Parraguirre led Chile with 11.
Venezuela faced a tougher challenge from Bolivia, which responded to a one-sided opening set by taking the second. The Venezuelans regained the advantage in the third before surviving a tense fourth set, 27-25, to complete a 3-1 victory. Yoisbel produced 21 points for Venezuela, with Choque scoring 17 for Bolivia.
Hosts Brazil closed the day’s action at the Maracanãzinho with a straight-sets win over Colombia. After narrowly taking the opener 25-23, Bernardinho’s team pulled away to comfortably secure the following two sets. Darlan topped the scoring with 19 points, while Amaranto had 12 for Colombia.
Following a rest day, Brazil will face Venezuela, Argentina take on Bolivia and Chile meet Colombia.
Results
Argentina 3-0 Chile (28-26, 25-19, 25-17)
Venezuela 3-1 Bolivia (25-12, 23-25, 25-21, 27-25)
Brazil 3-0 Colombia (25-23, 25-14, 25-16)