Brazilian teams win South American Club Championship titles

Three Brazilian teams and one Argentinean team booked their spots in this year’s FIVB Volleyball Club World Championships in the men and women's competitions, after reaching the finals of last week’s South American Club Championships. Continental champions Sada Cruzeiro Volei Belo Horizonte of Brazil and runners-up Ciudad Voley Buenos Aires of Argentina qualified in the men’s tournament. At the same tim Brazil’s Gerdau Minas Belo Horizonte and Dentil Praia Clube Uberlandia will once again represent South America in the women’s race for club world honours.

South American Volleyball Men’s Club Championship in Blumenau, Brazil

Nine club teams from five different countries – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay – took part in the five-day South American Volleyball Men’s Club Championship in Blumenau.

In Friday’s final, played in front of 2,500 spectators, Sada Cruzeiro Volei Belo Horizonte claimed a convincing 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-13) victory over Argentina’s Ciudad Voley Buenos Aires to earn their eighth consecutive and 10th overall continental club title. Sada Cruzeiro will compete at the Club World Championship for the 12th time in a row. Previously, Sada Cruzeiro have claimed four golds at the FIVB Volleyball Club World Championships, and collected two silver and two bronze medals. For Ciudad Voley, this silver was their first medal at the South American Club Championships and they are set to make their historic debut at the Club World Championships next December in India.

Another Brazilian team, Farma Conde Sao Jose dos Campos, took the continental bronze after a 3-1 (25-17, 25-21, 22-25, 25-14) win over tournament hosts APAN Roll-on Blumenau in the third-place match.

Sada Cruzeiro’s Cuban outside hitter Miguel Lopez earned the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award at the continental championships for the third time in a row. He also made the Dream Team of the tournament along with setter Gaspar Bitar (Ciudad Voley), opposite Wallace de Souza (Sada Cruzeiro), outside hitter Facundo Conte (Ciudad Voley), middle blockers Lucas Barreto (Farma Conde) and Otavio Pinto (Sada Cruzeiro), and libero Rogerio Batista Filho (Farma Conde).

Sada Cruzeiro Volei Belo Horizonte’s team roster

South American Volleyball Women’s Club Championship in Bauru, Brazil

Teams from Bolivia, Peru and Uruguay and three Brazilian squads made up the six participants in the five-day South American Volleyball Women’s Club Championship in Bauru.

Sunday’s gold medal showdown offered a five-set battle between the same two Brazilian teams that faced each other in the previous five continental finals; Gerdau Minas Belo Horizonte and Dentil Praia Clube Uberlandia. This time, led by star middle blocker Thaisa Menezes (pictured blocking in the main photo; source: CSV) with a match-high 20 points, Gerdau Minas Belo Horizonte dethroned defending champions Dentil Praia Clube Uberlandia in an epic 3-2 (24-26, 16-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-11) comeback from two sets down to collected their fifth continental crown. Both teams will represent South America in the women’s Club World Championship together for the sixth consecutive time. In Club World Championships history, Gerdau Minas have made it to the podium twice, with silver medals in 1992 and 2018, while Dentil Praia have never reached the podium, finishing fourth two times.

With tournament hosts Sesi Volei Bauru producing a 3-1 (25-21, 25-15, 21-25, 25-21) win over Peru’s Regatas Lima for the bronze, the clubs from Brazil secured a complete sweep of the podium.

Gerdau Minas’s middle blocker Julia Kudiess was honoured as the tournament's MVP, while the Dream Team was made up of setter Danielle Lins (Sesi), opposite Monique Pavao (Dentil Praia), outside hitters Priscila Daroit (Gerdau Minas) and Sofya Kuznetsova (Dentil Praia), middle blockers Thaisa Menezes (Gerdau Minas) and Mayany Souza (Sesi), and libero Natalia Araujo (Dentil Praia).

Gerdau Minas Belo Horizonte’s team roster