Dentil Praia Clube holds off Sesi Bauru’s reaction and advances to the semi-final

It seemed endless, but the quarter-final series of the Women’s Superliga, between Sesi Bauru and Dentil Praia Clube, came to an end, with the Minas Gerais team still in contention for their third national league title. On Tuesday night (2/4), Aurinegro beat the São Paulo team by 3 sets to 2 (25/17; 25/16; 21/25, 24/26 and 15/12) in the third and decisive game, held at Arena Dentil, in Uberlândia.

Now, the defending champion faces Sesc Flamengo in the semi-final for the third time in a row, in the eighth season in which it has advanced to the top-4. On the other side of the bracket, Gerdau Minas and Osasco are dueling for the second spot in the decision, just like last season.

And once again, it was with a lot of emotion. Just like in the first two games, one of the teams opened 2 x 0 and saw the opponent chase it to take it to the tie-break. This time, it was the home team that took the lead and then had to hold on, but managed to change the script and confirm the victory after the visitors’ reaction.

Experienced coach Paulo Coco had to show flexibility to manage a squad that has been suffering from a series of injuries. The one who entered the court as the starting setter was Milla, but captain Claudinha, despite her sacrifice, entered the third set and was essential for the positive result and was applauded by the fans.

In addition to the setter, central Adenízia only needed to make it rain in Uberlândia. Alone, she scored 13 blocking points, greatly forcing Sesi Bauru’s attack. Under pressure, the São Paulo team made mistakes at crucial moments and wasted good chances for a counterattack.

After the match, the Olympic champion spoke about the emotion of winning the spot and praised the collective spirit of Praia Clube.

“We said we had to leave everything on the court and we did. We were prepared to play 15 sets, and we did. This is our team and it is with this enthusiasm that we will move forward. It’s a lot of work, we know that. We had injuries, me and to Claudinha, and that’s what being an athlete is, it’s overcoming. We can never disbelieve and we will move forward believing”, said Adenízia, who was surprised to discover her individual score during the blockade.

Sesi Bauru says goodbye to the season

On Sesi Bauru’s side, the tears were of sadness. Setter Dani Lins was also emotional when talking about the end of the season, but praised the attitude of the two teams, who had a disputed ‘best of three’ series.

“What a quarter-final. Three games, 3×2 and all comebacks. I even joked that I’m not old enough for this (laughs). We managed to get it today, but I think their team is to be congratulated. Claudinha, despite her pain, she managed play and Adenízia was brilliant. We knew we had to get out of her block, but we couldn’t. Congratulations to the team, with a lot of overcoming, theirs too. I think we managed to give our best, in the quarterfinals, each game is a final, and now it’s ‘life that goes on’, thinking about the next season”, commented Dani Lins.

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