Sada Cruzeiro – Al Rayyan
Sada Cruzeiro, who leads Zenit Kazan (2-0) by one point in Pool A, out-served Al Rayyan 7-1 and had the 9-8 edge in service aces. The winners gave away 35 points in errors to 28 by the losers.
After beating Tigres of Nuevo Leon one day earlier, the South American club put another good volleyball show led by Wallace de Souza’s tournament-high 25 points. Marcos Leal, Mauricio Borges and Douglas Cordeiro contributed 13, 10 and 9 points respectively to the win while Yoandy Leal produced six valuable points as a starter in the fourth set.
David Lee topped Al Rayyan with 12 points followed by Sirianis Mendez and Valentin Bratoev with 11 tallies apiece.
Marcos Leal broke a tie at 7-7 with a spike down the middle for Sada Cruzeiro. De Souza crushed the ball with his spike and then scored with a push attack for a 12-8 lead in favor of the Brazilian club. Al Rayyan called time-out. The difference was still of four points (16-12) at the second pause despite the efforts of Lee and Mendez from Al Rayyan. The Sada Cruzeiro machine was working in high gear and increased the gap to 20-13. A streak of attacks led by Mendez and Oivanen cut the lead to 22-18. Cordeiro’s attack was wide for 23-20 but de Souza smashed and Marcos Leal blocked for the last two points and the 25-20 score.
Oivanen’s offense combined with some sloppy plays of the opponents for an 8-4 lead in favor of Al Rayyan in the second set. The difference was 16-14 at the second technical time-out but Sada Cruzeiro managed to equalize the score at 16-all with a spike by De Souza. At 18-18 Oivanen’ spike was ruled wide and then confirmed by the video. De Souza followed with a big cannon-shot for a 20-18 score. De Souza served short and then Bratoev scored after a sensational defensive play to keep the ball alive for a tie at 20-all. Rodrigo blocked De Souza but he didn’t in the next play. Mendez gave Al Rayyan the one-point lead 22-21 but De Souza landed another shot to level again. Leal served an ace for 23-22 but the spike of teammate Ferraz sailed long. Then blocked Borges for Al Rayyan’s set-point and Mendez scored big for the local side success 25-23.
Sada Cruzeiro held a one-point lead when teams arrived into the first TTO. Borges served an ace and De Souza killed off Al Rayyan’s wall for a 10-7 advantage. Bratoev reduced the gap to 13-12 but Marcos Leal counterattacked. The Brazil’s club led 16-12 after Cordeiro planted a tremendous spike in the Al Rayyan soil. The blocking skills of Cordeiro produced two more points to build a 22-15 commanding lead. Sada Cruzeiro cruised to a 25-16 win.
The South American team was in front 8-7 in the fourth set. Lee tied it for Al Rayyan but De Souza responded from the other side. Leal hit a spike to increase the gap to 11-9. Sada Cruzeiro improved to 16-12 with a stubborn block by Borges. Al Rayyan was not going to quit and came back to tie at 18-18 as Sada Cruzeiro played flat footed. At 22-21 De Souza hit a spike and Yiandy Leal served an ace. One play later Borges scored the final point for 25-22.
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