Merciless Osaka shut out club world champs Cruzeiro in 2025 opener

Japan’s Osaka Bluteon were absolutely merciless in Tuesday’s opening match of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship in Belem, shutting out defending club world champions Sada Cruzeiro Volei Belo Horizonte of Brazil.

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Osaka hammered out a dominant 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-14) sweep of their encounter with Cruzeiro to get their Pool B campaign to a perfect start.

Even though they committed more unforced errors than the opponents (21 against 18), the Japanese team eloquently outperformed the Brazilian side in all point-scoring elements – 39-21 in spike kills, 9-3 in serving aces and 9-2 in kill blocks.

Bluteon’s outside hitter Shoma Tomita registered a brilliant 82% success rate in attack and put away four stuffs and an ace towards a match-high 19 points, including the swing for the match winner. His Cuban cross-court teammate Miguel Lopez spiked at a 71% success rate and fired three aces to finish with a total of 13 points. One of his aces brought in set point in set two, which he himself converted with a pulverizing pipe shot from the back row. Osaka’s opposite and captain Yuji Nishida chipped in with 11 points, including two aces and a block, while outside Douglas De Souza was Sada Cruzeiro’s most prolific scorer with seven points, all in swings.

The second Pool B match in Belem, between Italy’s Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia and Libya’s Swehly Misrata, will serve off at 13:30 local time (16:30 UTC).

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