Brazil national team captain Bruno Rezende had a promising debut with new club Taubate Funvic as the 34-year-old setter led the reigning Superliga champions to a comfortable win in their first match of the 2020 Paulista Championship on Friday evening.
Taubate, who have won the last six editions of the tournament, played at home at the Abaete Arena and, despite the absence of their fanbase, had an energetic performance to secure a 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-16) victory over Vedacit Guarulhos.
The match was memorable to Rio 2016 Olympic champion Bruno, who returned to a Brazilian club after three seasons in Italy, where he played for Modena and Cucine Lube Civitanova.
“It felt great to be back in a match after six months,” Bruno said. “We definitely missed the fans, but there’s no other way to have matches right now. I think we had a great performance, we were surprisingly consistent in every aspect of the game considering we hadn’t played in a long time. It was a great first step, but now we keep working to give Taubate another title.”
Besides Bruno, several other players made their debuts for Taubate in the match, most noticeably fellow Rio 2016 Olympic champion outside hitter Mauricio Borges. The reigning Superliga champions have three other Olympic champions in their roster including outside hitter Douglas Souza and middle blockers Lucas Saatkamp and Mauricio Souza.
Head coach Javier Weber, who also appeared on the sidelines managing Taubate for the first time after he was signed to replace Renan Dal Zotto, was pleased by the team’s performance in the opening match of the season.
“I’m very pleased with our performance,” the Argentinean commented. “We did well technically and tactically, but what made me happier tonight was the team’s focus and attitude from the first point to the last. It was great to see that in the very first match, especially after such a long period of inactivity.”
Taubate return to the court on Wednesday, when they face Volei UM Itapetininga in their second match in the Paulista Championship.
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