JF Vôlei Pulls Off Major Upset Against Minas – Round 12 Recap

2017-2018 BRAZILIAN MEN’S SUPERLIGA

• 10/14 – 03/17 – Regular Season
• Official League Site
• Teams
• Schedule
• Power Rankings
• Round 1; Round 2; Round 3; Round 4; Round 5; Round 6; Round 7; Round 8; Round 9; Round 10; Round 11

Volleyball is not the kindest sport to underdogs, like soccer or hockey are, for example. But, from time to time fans are gifted with surprising upsets. This week, second-to-last JF Vôlei took on 5th place Minas and was able to edge out a 3-2 win (22/25 20/25 25/18 25/17 14/16) behind Leonardo Nascimento‘s 22 points, including 3 aces. Felipe Roque had 18 points in the losing effort. Both teams combined for 67 errors (Minas with, JF with 33) and JF was able to pull of the win even though it hit 47% as a team for the game to Minas‘ 54% hitting percentage.

Below you’ll find information from all of the round’s games:

• Sesi-SP beat Copel Telecom/Maringá 3-0 (25/19 25/21 25/18) behind Douglas Souza‘s 12 points. Jean Silva had 7 points in the losing effort. Sesi oublocked Maringá 11-0 in the match, which is astounding for a game at this high level of play. It also outhit its opponent 64% to 50%, while being gifted 29 points from errors in only 3 sets of play.
• Lebes/Canoas beat Montes Claros Vôlei 3-1 (23/25 23/25 25/21 21/25) behind Eduardo Rodrigues’ 16 points on 15/23 (65%) hitting. Lisandro Zanotti‘s 24 points in the losing effort, including 2 aces and 2 blocks. Fabrício Dias (Lorena) was back into the starting line up after having a big fight with Montes Claro’s coach. Although Canoas hit only 54% to Montes Claros 60% hitting performance, it was gifted 35 points from errors from its opponent.
• Vôlei Renata/Campinas beat Ponta Grossa/Caramuru 3-0 (25/21 25/21 25/22) behind Diogo Silva‘s 13 points on 11/13 (85%) hitting. Leonardo Pinheiro had 12 points in the losing effort. Campinas hit 60% for the game while also being gifted with 27 points from errors.
• Sesc/Rj beat EMS Funvic Taubaté 3-0 (23/25 23/25 18/25) behind Mauricio Borges‘ 13 points. Wallace Souza had 14 points in the losing effort. Sesc outblocked Taubaté 9 to 4 in the game. However, the biggest story the game was its poor officiating, which greatly harmed Taubaté’s chance at a win:
• [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vem-EYMR-8?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent]
• Sada/Cruzeiro will play Corinthians/Guarulho on 01/16/18.

Team of the Week: JF Vôlei

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Hoje é dia de estreia no campeonato mineiro contra a equipe do Sada Cruzeiro! E no manchetão deu a lógica! #GoJF

A post shared by Leozinho (@leonasccimento) on Sep 7, 2017 at 7:56am PDT

Six spots separate relegation-bound JF Vôlei from powerful Minas on Superliga’s standings. This wasn’t enough to stop JF from pulling one of the season’s most impressive upsets against fellow state rivals. It wasn’t preety. Matter of fact, it was an error infested bonanza of a game, but sometimes a team just has to dig deep and grind out a win. JF won’t escape relegation this year, but at least this win gives the squad something to boast about for posterity.

Player of The Week: Leonardo Nascimento

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Primeira vitória do JF VÔLEI na Superliga masculina. Gostaria de agradecer a todos que torceram por nós, e a todos que votaram em mim, para levar o troféu viva vôlei. Muito obrigado a todos. #Superliga#PrimeiroVivaVôlei #GoJFVôlei

A post shared by Leozinho (@leonasccimento) on Nov 27, 2017 at 12:46pm PST

Superliga’s scoring leader at 4.94 pts/set, Leonardo was responsible for JF’s 2nd win in 10 games. He had 22 points, including 3 aces. He started the game slowly, with only 1 point in the first set, before erupting for 7 in the second frame on 5/5 hitting. He then went on to add 4 points in the tie-break to close the deal for JF. He is building quite the name for himself despite JF’s poor overall play.

Standings