Semi-finals in both men’s and women’s events took place today at the Parapan Am Sitting Volleyball event. Some exciting volleyball action throughout the day as teams vied for the right to compete for medals and in some cases qualifying for a spot in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The first men’s semi-final match of the day had Brazil and Colombia competing to see who would advance to the Gold Medal match. Brazil defeated Colombia in 3 sets by scores of 25-9, 25-18 and 25-12. Brazil advances to compete for Gold while Colombia will compete for Bronze.

The second semi-final of the day was between USA and Cuba women. The Americans had little difficulty handling the Cubans in 3 sets by scores of 25-4, 25-12 and 25-8. USA will compete for Gold while the Cubans will vie for Bronze.

The second men’s semi-final match was between Canada and the USA. This was one of the tightest matches of the whole competition as the two teams traded leads throughout all 4 sets before the Americans prevailed in 4 sets by scores of26-24, 25-23, 16-25 and 25-21. The match lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes and a sold out crowd cheered for both teams. The USA advances to the Gold Medal match against Brazil while Canada will take on Colombia in the Bronze Medal match. With the win, the USA qualifies for a spot in the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

The last semi-final of the day was between the women’s teams from Brazil and Canada. While Canada stayed close in the first game, they were no match for the more experienced Brazilians and lost in 3 sets by scores of 25-20, 25-11 and 25-12. As a result, Brazil will take on the USA in the Gold Medal match while Canada will compete for Bronze against Cuba.

The schedule for Friday is as follows:

9:00 Men’s 5-6 placing Costa Rica vs Mexico
11:00 Men’s Bronze Medal Colombia vs Canada
13:00 Women’s Bronze Medal Cuba vs Canada
17:00 Women’s Gold Medal USA vs Brazil
19:00 Men’s Gold Medal Brazil vs USA