Sesi-Sao off to a brilliant start in the FIVB Club World Championship - Volleyball
The 7th edition of the FIVB Men’s Club Volleyball World Championship started off on Saturday, October 8 in Doha, Qatar. A total of eight club teams from different volleyball federations from around the world joined the action at Al-Ghrafa Indoor Volleyball Hall in Doha. According to the set formula of FIVB, the opening day of the tournament featured three games. Hosts Al-Arabi, Russian Zenit Kazan, and Poland’s Jastrzębski Węgiel clinched success on day-1. The next day followed the same theme and three matches were covered.
Brazilian men’s top club, Sesi-Sao, opened the tournament on Sunday, October 9 and took a brilliant start in the campaign. The South American team clashed with Day-1 winner Al-Arabi. The hosts, Al-Arabi, had the competitive edge of playing under familiar conditions and also with one victory in hand. The Brazilian squad proved to be to too strong for the home team and handed them first the loss at the home campaign with by 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-22) victory.
The Brazilians opened the match on a good note and picked a 4-0 lead. By the time Al-Arabi chased the score, the Sesi Sao Paulo side moved to the next stop of 15-5. They hit powerfully and showed no mercy to the hosts on the centre court. Brazil’s score kept rising and finally they closed off the first set at 25-20.
Al-Arabi was dragged under pressure with the loss of the opening set, which helped Sesi Sao to earn an 11-8 in the second set. The visiting team carried the momentum and continued with hard-hitting, while the hosts made too many unforced mistakes and suffered set-backs. Sesi Sao Paulo benefitted from 22 errors of their opponents and seized a second set victory with identical score of 25-20.
The tone was set for the South Americans to put an end to the game in the third set. They posted 25-22 on board and clinched success in the opening match.
The skipper for Sesi Sao Paulo, Murilo Endres, enjoyed the post-match applause. He was happy indeed and expressed his emotions in the following manner: “It was a great match for us and a great victory with a big result. It is the first step toward the title. We knew that Al Arabi team have many good players that gathered a few days ago. We knew some of these players from Europe, especially the Italian players.”
The Brazilian Head Caoch, Giovane Gavio, also had his say about the match. He stated that the counter-attacks and solid defence of his team was the key of success. He said they focused all their attention on No. 2 and No. 6 players of Al-Arabi and controlled the action on the net.
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