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.”