Capitão do Sada Cruzeiro, Wallace fez a diferença para o time mineiro

The MVP of the 2024 Club World Championship, Wallace led Cruzeiro with 32 points (Photo: Agência i7/Sada Cruzeiro)

Experience played a factor and Sada Cruzeiro came back from a very unfavorable position to defeat reigning Brazilian Men’s Superliga champions SESI Bauru on Tuesday and continue at the top of the standings of the 2024-2025 edition of the tournament.

Playing in front of their home fans at the Riacho Arena, in Contagem, the reigning world champions had to deny their opponents as many as eight match points in set four before regaining control of the game to triumph 3-2 (25-21, 28-30, 22-25, 32-30, 15-11).

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

The comeback victory keeps Cruzeiro in control of the Superliga as they now have 39 points (14 wins, one loss), five more than second-placed Itambé Minas. SESI earned one point with the five-set loss and continue in fifth place, now with 28 points (seven wins, eight losses).

The reigning world champions are undefeated in their last seven Superliga matches but entered Tuesday’s encounter under a little bit of pressure after their early elimination in the Brazilian Cup, caused by a surprising defeat to Joinville Vôlei in the quarterfinal round last week.

Cruzeiro heavily relied on their Olympic champion trio to overcome SESI as while 37-year-old star opposite Wallace de Souza led the team with 32 points (29 kills, two blocks, one ace) and took home the match’s MVP award, 38-year-old middle blocker Lucas Saatkamp added another 17 (13 kills, four blocks) and 29-year-old outside hitter Douglas Souza contributed 12, with 11 kills and one block.

“Again, we had to dig ourselves out of a hole,” Wallace reacted after the match. “We’ve been having too many ups and downs and that’s something we need to fix. When that happens and we play a strong team such as SESI, that’s how the match goes. We’ve been lacking consistency and that’s something we need to work on. But the most important thing right now is that we still managed to win. Everyone played their roles today and the strength of our roster was key.”

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Darlan's 35-point performance wasn't enough for SESI to beat Cruzeiro on the road (Photo: Agência i7/Sada Cruzeiro)

SESI’s Paris 2024 Olympians were the team’s most productive players, with 22-year-old star opposite Darlan Souza registering a match-high 35 points, with 34 kills and one block, and 20-year-old outside hitter Lukas Bergmann adding another 14 (13 kills, one block).

“We knew it was going to be a tough match,” Bergmann said. “We had some ups and downs, but we still could have won the match in the fourth set. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had and I think that the lesson we take from this match is that we need to be calmer in those moments.”

On Saturday, Cruzeiro will meet Joinvile again, now for the Superliga, on the road. On Sunday, SESI will return home to meet Apan Roll-On.

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