Minas deliver and sweep Praia to finish second

The 2024-2025 Brazilian Men’s Superliga regular season came to an end on Thursday, determining the matchups for the quarterfinal round of the playoffs, which will begin on April 5.

Itambé Minas, who won a three-team race for second place, and Vedacit Vôlei Guarulhos, who claimed the last spot available in the playoffs, were the biggest winners of the day, while Apan Roll On had to deal with the frustration of being relegated.

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

Set to start in about ten days, the quarterfinals will have first-placed Sada Cruzeiro facing eighth-placed Guarulhos, second-placed Minas battling seventh-placed Suzano Vôlei, third-placed Vôlei Renata Campinas meeting sixth-placed Joinville Vôlei and fourth-placed SESI Vôlei Bauru dueling with fifth-placed Praia Clube.

Minas entered the Decision Day in second place and depended only on their own efforts to keep their spot, which they did with an indisputable 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-17) home win over Club South American Championship runners-up Praia in Belo Horizonte.

Opposite Aboubacar ‘Abouba’ Neto led the team with 15 points (ten kills, three blocks, two aces), while middle blocker Gabriel Bertolini, who scored five, took home the match’s MVP award.

“This was a very important victory, which confirmed our spot in the standings,” Bertolini reacted. “We’ve been very consistent in the regular season and we managed to win points even in the matches we lost. Now we need to work even harder to keep our good form in the playoffs.”

With Minas’ victory, Campinas and SESI, who faced each other and were also on the race to finish second, had to settle for battling for third place. Playing at home, Campinas triumphed 3-1 (27-25, 25-19, 18-25, 25-18) and secured the top three finish.

Guarulhos secure unlikely qualification

Guarulhos’ situation going into the last day of the regular season wasn’t very comfortable as the team was ranked tenth, two points outside the qualification zone for the playoffs, but everything fell into place for them. It all started with a strong 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-18) home win against already relegated Neurolgia Ativa.

With the three points collected, they needed the two teams right above them in the standings to lose and that’s what happened, with Viapol São José falling to Suzano 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-20) at home and Saneago Goiás Vôlei losing 3-1 (25-20, 25-19, 28-30, 25-21) to Joinville on the road.

The sixth and last match of the day confirmed Apan’s relegation. The team would have continued in the Brazilian elite if it had defeated reigning world champions Cruzeiro on the road, but they fell 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-21) and will play in the country’s second division in 2025-2026.

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