MATCH INFO

Doha, Qatar, October 10, 2011 – Brazil’s Sesi Sao Paulo posted a 25-18, 27-25, 18-25, 25-14 victory over Egypt’s Al-Ahly Cairo in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship at Doha, Qatar, on Monday to improve to 2-0 in Pool B. Al-Ahly Cairo ends the tournament with a 0-3 record and one point in the standings.

Sesi Sao Paulo finishes the tournament on Oct. 12 with a highly anticipated match against Italy’s Trentino Diatec Trento, which is attempting to win the event for the third year in a row. In the process, Sesi Sao Paulo has qualified for the semifinals regardless of the meeting with Trentino (1-0), which plays host Al-Arabi Doha (1-1) on Tuesday before taking on Sesi Sao Paulo.

Wallace Martins paced Sesi Sao Paulo with 17 points, while captain Murilo Endre contributed 14 points. Al-Ahly Cairo was led by Ahmed Abdelhay’s 19 points, followed by Ahmed Mohamed’s 15 points.

Sesi Sao Paulo tallied a 12-5 block advantage and a slim 5-4 margin in aces.

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Sesi Sao Paulo reached the first technical timeout leading 8-5, only to have Al-Ahly Cairo close to one at 9-8. Al-Ahy tied the score at 14-all on a Latif Ahmed Abdell block. However, he hit long to lift Sesi Sao Paulo into a 16-14 lead at the second technical timeout. Sesi Sao Paulo added two more points out of the break for an 18-14 lead at an Al-Ahly Cairo timeout. Rodrigo Santana added a block and Sandro Barbalho served an ace to stretch the lead to 20-14. Sesi Sao Paulo closed out the set with the seven-point advantage at 25-18.

The second set remained close with Sesi Sao Paulo holding the narrowest of margins at the first technical timeout at 8-7. Mohamed Ketat put Al-Ahly Cairo up 13-12, only to have Sesi Sao Paulo score the next two points. Wallace Martins hit around the Al-Ahly Cairo block to secure a three-point cushion at 20-17. A Sesi Sao Paulo attack error reduced Al-Ahly Cairo’s deficit to 21-20. An Ahmed Abdelhay spike and Mahmoud Abd El Kader block leveled the set at 23-all. Sesi Sao Paulo won the set with its third opportunity with an ace by Sandro Barbalho at 27-25.

Al-Ahly Cairo bolted to a 5-1 lead in the third set capped by an Abdelhay cross-court winner and Sesi Sao Paulo attack error. Mahmoud Abd El Kader scored a block to stretch the lead to 7-2. Sesi Sao Paulo scored the first two points out of the first technical timeout to close to 8-5. Sesi Sao Paulo continued to rally by moving to within one at 9-8 with a block by Leonardo Litwinczuk leading to an Al-Ahly Cairo timeout. Two Sesi Sao Paulo attack errors yielded a 13-9 advantage for Al-Ahly Cairo. Abdelhay served an ace off the net to increase the Al-Ahly Cairo lead to 15-10. Ketat notched an attack points to inch the margin to 17-11. Sesi Sao Paulo sliced two points off the deficit at 17-14 on errors, only to have Ketat serve an ace to regain a five-point cushion at 19-14. Abdel Latif Ahmed blocked another attack to put Sesi Sao Paulo behind 20-14 at a timeout. Al-Ahly Cairo reached set points at 24-18 and won it with an Abdelhay spike, his seventh point of the set, at 25-18.

Santana scored a block and Leonardo Cruz Miranda spiked an overpass to push Sesi Sao Paulo into a 4-1 lead to start the fourth set. However, Al-Ahly bounced back with two quick points including a Mohamed kill to close to 4-3. Sidnei Santos Junior cashed in two blocks and Al-Ahly Cairo had error to push Sesi Sao Paulo into an 8-3 lead at the first technical timeout. Sesi Sao Paulo built the lead to 14-7 as Al-Ahly Cairo’s errors piled up. Sesi Sao Paulo took a 20-11 lead before Ketat served an ace to slice the deficit to 20-13. Santos Junior ended the match with an ace at 25-14.