Club Worlds MVP Lopez leads Sada Cruzeiro to victory in Superliga return

Sada Cruzeiro continue to play in the rhythm that earned them their fourth FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship title last week.

In the team’s first match in the Brazilian Superliga after their victory in Betim, the group of players led by head coach Filipe Ferraz showed the same level of intensity displayed against the best teams in the world to claim a straight-set (25-16, 26-24, 25-20) road win against Apan Eleva Blumenau on Sunday.

The Most Valuable Player at the Club World Championship, Cuban outside hitter Miguel Angel Lopez showed once again how valuable he is to Sada as he led the team’s offensive efforts with 13 points (eight kills, four aces, one block) and was selected as the Player of the Match.

The Cuban was also instrumental for the team’s comeback at the end of the second set, after he had a good run from the service line to help the team turn a 22-24 deficit into a 26-24 victory.

“Even though we were behind in the score, I was very confident,” Lopez said after the match. “I just thought about how good serves would help us. I train and when a situation like that happens during a match, I know exactly what I have to do. We’re still very happy about our title at the Club World Championship last week, but we are also very focused on the Superliga.”

Olympic champion opposite Wallace de Souza also reached double digits with 11 points to his name (nine kills, two aces), while middle blocker Otavio Pinto had nine (four kills, five blocks).

The road victory has pushed Sada Cruzeiro two spots up in the standings, moving from fourth to second place with 23 points (eight wins, two losses). The leaders of the Brazilian League are undefeated Fiat Gerdau Minas, with ten victories.

Sada Cruzeiro will play one more time before the break for the end-of-year holidays against Vedacit Volei Guarulhos on Thursday.