Cubans Miguel Angel Lopez and Robertlandy Simon shined in the playoffs with their teams Sada Cruzeiro and Piacenza, respectively, in the Brazilian and Italian volleyball superleagues.
Lopez was again a mainstay of the light blue team, which beat Volei Renata 3-1 in sets on Thursday. They tied at one win apiece to keep alive their aspirations of advancing to the semifinals of the South American Giant championship.
The duel, which started with a calm 25-17 advantage in favor of the cruzeirenses, continued with a hard-fought match that lasted more than two hours and was defined by 25-27, 33-31 and 25-21.
Miguel Angel scored 19 points, 18 of those by attack and one block. He was the second highest scorer of his team, which was led by Olympic medalist Wallace de Souza with 21.
In the first quarterfinal match, Volei Renata won 3-0 (25-19, 27-25, 25-22). The Cienfuegos auxiliary attacker led Sada Cruzeiro’s offense with 17 points.
In Italy, the giant Robertlandy Simón helped Piacenza dominate Cisterna 3-1 (25-21, 18-25, 25-15, 25-20) in the beginning of the discussion of the fifth to eighth places.
The capitalist contributed 10 points, including five blocks, a section in which he has sustained an outstanding all-around performance. He leads all the middle blockers for his performance from the regular season to the playoffs.
His compatriot, also blocker Roamy Alonso, entered the court in the regular lineup, but was substituted in the first set.
In this six-team round-robin phase, Civitanova, which includes West Indian Marlon Yant, started off victorious over Modena (25-20, 25-19, 10-25, 25-22). Verona overcame Padova (25-18, 25-18, 22-25, 25-21).
The semifinalists completed the second day. Osniel Mergarejo’s Milano tied the series with Jesus Herrera’s Perugia by winning a hard-fought match that went to a tie-break (25-27, 25-21, 21-25, 27-25, 20-18).
Mergarejo returned to play as a substitute and scored two goals in three attempts. Opposite Herrera did not take the court.
The Italian Volleyball Superleague 2024 will continue next Sunday with the third match of a five-match series between Perugia, runner-up of the regular season, and Milano, ranked sixth.
In the dispute for the fifth to eighth places will compete Piacenza-Verona, Civitanova-Padova and Modena-Cisterna.
