Taubaté Beats Cruzeiro In Best Match Of Season So Far. Superliga 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

Volleyball fans got a special treat this week, as both Funvic EMS/Taubaté and Sada/Cruzeiro, two of the best male teams in the world, played two games in a span of 5 days. Their first match, played on 11/1, was a head to head battle, in what many believed served as a preview to this season’s Superliga finals match up. Taubaté came out on top with a 3-2 (21/25 26/24 28/26 24/26 15/6) win behind Ricardo Lucarelli‘s 15 points. Yoandy Leal led the way for Cruzeiro with 21 points. Five Taubaté players scored in double figures, which allowed the team to win the game even though it was less efficient than Cruzeiro in hitting, receiving, and blocking (45% to 42%, 31% to 22%, and 18 to 15, respectively).

Taubaté  took to the court again on 11/5 as Marko Ivovic had his first start of the season. It beat Lebes Canoas 3-0 (25/19 25/18 25/22) behind Wallace Souza’s 13 points. Ivovic had a solid performance with 9 points, as he slowly gets back into playing shape after suffering an ankle injury during the off-season. Leandro Silva had 11 points in the losing effort. Canoas was out-blocked 8-2 on the game.

Meanwhile, Sada/Cruzeiro had a tough time against Ponta Grossa/Caramuru, but ultimately bounced back from its defeat to Taubaté two days prior and came out on top with a 3-1 (20/25 25/23 21/25 28/30) victory behind Yoandy Leal‘s 17 points on 15 for 21 hitting (71%). Leonardo Pinheiro had 21 points in the losing effort. Cruzeiro hit 63% for the game.

Here are the results for all of the week’s remaining games:

• Sesc/RJ beat Copel Telecom/Maringá 3-0 (25/19 25/23 25/23) behind João Ferreira‘s 14 points. Alisson Bastos had 13 points in the losing effort. Sesi hit 63% for the game.
• Corinthians/Guarulhos beat Montes Claros Vôlei 3-2 (17/25 25/17 21/25 25/22 15/10) behind Rogério Nogueira’s 25 points, while Vivalde Alves had 19 points in the losing effort. Corinthians hit 9 for 11 (82%) on the tie-break.
• Minas Tênis Clube beat Vôlei Renata/Campinas 3-0 (21/25 16/25 20/25) behind Yordan Bisset’s 18 points on 12 of 16 (75%) hitting, three aces, and three blocks. Diogo Silva had 9 points in the losing effort. Campinas only received at a 19% excellency rate as a team for the game, had 21 service mistakes and was out-blocked 9-2 on the match.
• Sesi/SP beat Vôlei JF 3-0 (25/21 25/14 25/14) behind Alan Souza’s 12 points. Filipe Ramme had 10 points in the losing effort. Sesi hit 59% as a team for the game.

Team of the Week: Taubaté

Hoje se joga, @taubatevolei x Sada Cruzeiro as 19hs no @sportv , contamos com a torcida de vocês!!! @bauerfeindbrasil @underarmourbrasil @_teamgm @bodyaction.oficial ?@rafinha0013

A post shared by Wallace Leandro (@wallaceleandro08) on Nov 1, 2017 at 8:12am PDT

Cruzeiro has dominated the world of volleyball for so long that it is hard to remember the last time they lost a game. It’s no surprise then that Taubaté has always come short when facing this volleyball powerhouse. Things took a different turn, however, this time around, as the team rose to the challenge and finally won one against their number one rivals.

Player of the Week: Yordan Bisset

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbIP41_F7WU/?taken-by=yordanbisset

The young Cuban outside hitter had a phenomenal all around game. He hit an unbelievable 75% (12 of 16), which is something that resembles a middle blocker’s attacking rate, definitely something very hard for outside hitters to achieve. He also had 3 aces and 3 blocks on his 18 point performance that helped Minas secure a win and a fourth place in Superliga’s current standings.

Standings

*Sada/Cruzeiro has played an extra game in relation to all other teams