Comeback win over Praia puts Osasco back in the mix

Under pressure after recent frustrating results in the 2024-2025 Brazilian Women’s Superliga, Osasco São Cristovão Saúde gave a strong answer on Thursday, coming back from a two-set deficit to beat league leaders Dentil Praia Clube and get back in the mix in the race for the top spot ahead of the playoffs.

The reigning Brazilian Cup champions got to as low as sixth place during the eighth leg of the second round of the regular season, but are now third with 40 points, trailing only Praia, who have 45, and defending champions Gerdau Minas, who have 43, with three more matches to be played before the end of the regular season.

Select Brazilian Men’s and Women’s Superliga matches are available live for VBTV subscribers located in Brazil.

Coming from a straight-set loss to longtime rivals SESC RJ Flamengo last week, Osasco had a slow start to the match, but substitutions made by head coach Luizomar de Moura powered the team to come back from a two-set deficit and beat Praia 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 28-26, 31-29, 15-12) in front of their home fans.

One of Osasco’s super subs, Azeri opposite Polina Rahimova had a tremendous performance, delivering 34 points off the bench with 29 kills, three blocks and two aces, and took home the match’s MVP award. Veteran outside hitter Tiffany Abreu also stood out with 23 points (19 kills, four blocks).

“We had some lost some matches recently in a really bad way, having no power to react,” Rahimova explained. “But I think that tonight we managed to find a good balance throughout the match. Our coach tried some different things and these changes helped us win.”

Praia had Russian outside hitter Sofya Kuznetsova as their leading scorer with 22 points, followed by American outside hitter Payton Caffrey, who produced 17, and Olympic medalist middle blocker Carol Gattaz, who tallied 16.

Minas sweep SESI

Defending champions Minas faced SESI Vôlei Bauru on the road and only needed three sets to get the job done, prevailing 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 27-25). American setter Jenna Gray received the match’s MVP award.

“Every match in the Superliga is a battle,” she said. “Every time we get on the court, we know a tough match is waiting for us and we just try to be ready for it. We were coming from a tough loss against Fluminense and I’m proud of how strongly we reacted today.”

Minas’ Brazilian national team opposite Kisy Nascimento topped all scorers with 22 points (20 kills, one block, one ace), followed by Dominican Olympian outside hitter Yonkaira Peña, who delivered ten, all in kills. Middle blocker Mayhara Francini tallied 11 for SESI, with seven kills, three blocks and one ace.

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