Miguel Angel Lopez won another title with Brazil’s Sada Cruzeiro and Robertlandy Simon led Piacenza to an important victory in Italy, to lead the performances of Cuban volleyball players on Sunday in professional leagues.
Nicknamed “the flying Cuban”, Lopez was one of the key figures in Sada’s 3-0 shutout win over Vedacit Guarulhos in the match for the Brazilian Cup crown.
He contributed 17 points, 13 of them in attack for 52 percent efficiency, with 3 aces and a block.
With the Brazil Cup, Sada Cruzeiro of the laureate DT Filipe Ferrez won the third title of the season and the 52nd in its history, since 2010, highlighted the club on its official website.
It is also their eighth Brazilian Cup, out of 12 contested.
For López, the current campaign is his farewell, as next season he will leave for Japan Volleyball.
Meanwhile, in the Italian Superliga, star Robertlandy Simón led Piacenza to a 3-1 victory over Milan in the quarter-final playoffs, so that the quarter-final series between the two teams is now even at one win apiece.
Led by Japan’s Yuki Ishikawa, Milan won the first set, but with notable contributions from Brazil’s Riccardo Luccarelli and Simon, Piacenza won all three sets.
Simon scored 17 points, 9 of them in blocking and 3 aces, while Lucarelli was the MVP, scoring 19 points. Brazilian nationalized Cuban Yoandy Leal reached 13 units, while Roamy Alonso did not see action.
The Lube Civitanova of Cuban Marlon Yant fell again to the tough Monza and is now up against the wall in the series 0-2.
Yant did not have a great game. He left with 12 points, but his percentages of effectiveness in attack and reception were not remarkable, in both cases less than 50 percent.
For Monza, Japan’s Takahashi deserved the distinction of MVP, with 18 points, 17 of them in attack.
In the other games, the favorites Trentino and Perugia won.
Trentino beat Modena 3-2 with 20 points from world champion Alessandro Michieletto and 16 points from fellow world champion Daniele Lavia, chosen as MVP mainly for his 62 percent efficiency in reception.
Perugia overcame Verona 3-1, in a match in which Cuban Jesús Herrera did not play, and put the series 2-0 in their favor.
The Superliga quarter-final playoffs will continue next 17th with the third games of each five-game series to win 3.
