Rio 2016 Olympic champion Wallace de Souza came out on top in an exciting duel between past and present Brazilian national team opposites on Sunday, leading his team Sada Cruzeiro to an incredible comeback win over reigning Brazilian Superliga champions SESI Bauru.
The captain of Sada Cruzeiro delivered a 20-point performance and led his team to an amazing comeback as they reacted after dropping two sets and topped SESI 3-2 (18-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 16-14) despite 26 points from their star opposite and Paris Olympian Darlan de Souza.
The Brazilian Men’s and Women’s Superliga matches are available live for VBTV subscribers located in Brazil.
Set to compete at the upcoming 2024 FIVB Men’s Club World Championship in December, Cruzeiro are one of two undefeated teams in the Superliga and top the standings with 13 points (five wins). SESI are second with ten (three wins, one loss), trailed by Bruno Rezende’s Vôlei Renata, who have eight points (three wins) and one game in hand.
Besides the 37-year-old Wallace, Cruzeiro also counted on strong performances from Olympic champion middle blocker Lucas Saatkamp and outside hitter Gabriel Vaccari to complete their comeback. Each of them scored 15 points, with Vaccari coming off the bench in the second set and scoring the game-winner.
“Not taking anything away from SESI’s performance, we started the match way too slowly,” Wallace said. “They are even stronger when they have the lead because then they have the confidence to serve tough and that was making things very difficult for us. But we’re a team that never gives up and from the third set on, we started serving better. We dug ourselves into a hole, but managed to get out of it. I’m happy for it, but also aware that we still need to improve.”
