Derby lost in the ‘black’ | Sporting Clube de Portugal official website
Volleyball fought to the end for victory
The Sporting Clube de Portugal men’s volleyball team lost, this Saturday, against SL Benfica by 2-3 in the sixth round of the second phase of the League.
The first two sets were the least positive for the Lions, who took some time to fully enter into the discussion of the challenge. Tiago Barth even opened the scoring and the first points were divided, but the eagles reached 11-15 and never let go of the advantage. At the end of the first set, 19-25 and 0-1 for SL Benfica.
The second set ended up having less history, since the visitors remained always in front. Despite the good moments of Gabriel Bertolini – one of the best on the court -, Josué López and Joaquín Gallego, the unforced errors dictated the green and white defeat and the 0-2 on the scoreboard.
Everything changed in the third set. An excellent start by Sporting CP made it 7-3 and both Tiago Barth, Pedro Cardoso and Brian Melgarejo helped contribute to the 15-11, 20-15 and finally 25-22.
The good moment of João Coelho’s team continued for the fourth set. Gabriel Bertolini continued to be strong, both attacking and blocking, and continued as the main figure of the match.
Brian Melgarejo and Pedro Cardoso were also giving SL Benfica a hard time and an ace from Tiago Barth for the 21-18 confirmed as aspirations and possibilities for the Alvalade emblem in the set and in the match. The point that made it 2-2 was made by Toms Svans, who closed the score at 25-20.
Finally, in the ‘black’, SL Benfica turned out to be stronger, dominating until the 10-15 which resulted in the 2-3 with which the derby ended.
Sporting CP will play again this Sunday, visiting SC Espinho for the round of 16 of the Portuguese Cup.
Sports PC: Josué López (5), José Masso, Toms Svans (4), José Jardim, Kelton Tavares, Thiago Gelinski [C]Gabriel Bertolini (28), Pedro Cardoso (12), Gil Meireles [L]Tiago Barth (12), Brian Melgarejo (14), Joaquín Gallego (2) and João Simões [L].