Taubaté has just won its 5th straight State Championship in Brazil. But, perhaps none of its previous titles were as tough as this one, as the team, after losing the the match to Sesi-SP, was only able to clinch gold in the golden set. The game lasted three hours and included a 41-39 set, which Sesi won to force the decider.
The game was diamond-studded. Taubaté featured the following Olympic gold medalists: Ricardo Lucarelli, Douglas Souza, Lucas Saatkamp. Not to be outdone, Sesi also boasted Olympic champions in its roster: William Arjona, Murilo Endres, Lipe Fonteles, Eder Carbonera. Sesi took the first two sets 25-21 and 25-23. Taubaté took the third frame 25-23, before the teams went head to head in a heated fourth set that finished at an amazing 41-39 in favor or Sesi. The game then headed to the golden set, in which Taubaté just displayed more energy to close it 25-20.
Taubaté’s Lucarelli, who is coming back from injury, stayed in the game in its entirety. He later spoke to Globo.com about the particularities of playing in such an unusual set of volleyball:
“I don’t think I’ve ever played such a long set in my life. I was even hungry throughout the middle of it. Winning the golden set was amazing. I am very happy, specially because of the problems I had last year. I have a lot of people to thank, specially my family, who helped me a lot. I hope to continue well and healthy.”
This kind of score, although very rare, has already been seen before at this level of play. The best example of how extreme volleyball scores can get is the 2002 match in which Cuneo and Treviso played a 54-52 set in Italy’s A1 league
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