Looking to bounce back, Osasco and Minas meet in the ninth leg of the Superliga on Thursday

Coming from negative results, Osasco São Cristovão Saúde and Gerdau Minas are set to meet on Thursday, in what could be the most consequential match of the ninth leg of the 2025-2026 Brazilian Women's Superliga regular season.

The winners of the last two editions of the tournament will meet at the José Liberatti Arena, in Osasco, at 19:30 local time (22:30 UT), in one of the five matches set to happen in the country over the next two days.

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Both Minas, who lead the Superliga with 21 points (seven wins, one loss), and Osasco, who are third with 18 (six wins, two losses), were recently taken down by second-placed SESC RJ Flamengo, who are in second-place with 20 points (seven wins) and are currently the only undefeated team in the country.

Set to play their last Superliga match before competing at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship next week, Osasco enter Thursday's encounter coming from back-to-back defeats, as after going down in straight sets to Flamengo on November 24, they fell to Fluminense in the tie-breaker three days later.

"We played two strong opponents, but the truth is that we didn't play at our best level," libero Camila Brait reflected. "But those results didn't take us down, they just made us work even harder. We had good days of preparation and are ready to perform better in front of our fans."

One of the team's signings for the season, Argentine opposite Bianca Cugno has been excellent for them, and carries most of their hopes of getting back to winning ways against Minas - she's the Superliga's third-best scorer with 144 points.

Minas had won their first seven Superliga matches before going down to Flamengo last Friday. Despite having managed to continue at the top of the standings, they saw their rivals cut their lead to a single point, while having one game in hand, and need to take all three points against Osasco on the road to improve their chances of continuing at the top of the standings.

"It should be another big match and I'm looking forward to it," said Polish setter Julia Nowicka. "Osasco will always be a tough opponent, but after losing to Flamengo we're determined to play better and fix our errors."

Displaying great chemistry with the team's new setter, Brazilian national team middle blocker Júlia Kudiess has been in top form for Minas - she leads the Superliga in blocks (36) and hitting efficiency (53.6%) and is the team's second-best scorer with 100 points.

After eliminating their rivals in last year's semifinals, Osasco have a recent record of success against Minas, having won three of the last five matches involving the teams. The last ten encounters show five victories for each side.

Flamengo play on Friday

After beating both Osasco and Minas in the last two weeks, Flamengo continue to push for the top of the Superliga standings and they will make another attemtpt to get there on Friday, when they play fifth-placed SESI Vôlei Bauru on the road at 21:00 (00:00 UTC, Saturday).

Brazilian Women’s Superliga – Match Schedule & Results

The first match of the ninth leg will reunite 11th-placed Tijuca Tênis Clube and eighth-placed Paulistano Barueri on Thursday, at 19:00 (22:00 UTC). Two other matches are scheduled for Friday, with ninth-placed Brasília Vôlei hosting seventh-placed Batavo Mackenzie and 12th-placed Renasce Sorocaba facing tenth-placed Sancor Maringá Vôlei at 18:30 (21:30 UTC).

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