San Lorenzo became the ninth club to win the Argentinean Women’s Volleyball League as the Almagro-based players triumphed in the 2020-2021 edition of the tournament in Buenos Aires on Sunday. The unprecedented victory comes after back-to-back second-place finishes in the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons.
The historical victory didn’t come easy as San Lorenzo needed all five sets to defeat Gimnasia La Plata 3-2 (22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 18-25, 15-11) in the third and last match of the final series of the tournament.
The eventual winners had won the opening match 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-15) on Friday, but saw their opponents take the second meeting 3-2 (20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 15-13) on Saturday and force the third game in three days.
The triumph was also very special for veteran middle blocker Emilce ‘Mimi’ Sosa. A former Argentinean national team captain and a Rio 2016 Olympian, the 33-year-old Sosa stepped away from the sport during the 2019 season but decided to return this year and signed with San Lorenzo to be part of Las Matadoras (The Killers, in Spanish) during the 2020-2021 club season, which didn’t start in Argentina until February.
It was the second Argentinean title in Sosa’s storied career. The veteran represented Argentina at the 2011 and 2015 FIVB Volleyball World Cups and the 2014 and 2018 editions of the FIVB Volleyball World Championships. She also won the league back in 2010-2011 with Boca Juniors.
“All I wanted was to return this way,” said Sosa, who scored the championship-winning point. “And once I met this amazing team, I knew that it was possible. Yesterday we had a chance that we couldn't materialise, but today we couldn’t miss it again. We did everything possible, we trained a lot during the season and we deserved to be champions. This is very special for me after not playing for two years. It’s also in my country and being able to enjoy playing again like this is something that I can’t explain, it’s priceless. I’m incredibly happy.”
Another Argentinean national team player, 23-year-old outside hitter Daniela Bulaich, also stood out in San Lorenzo’s title campaign and received the Most Valuable Player award for the finals. A bronze medallist at the 2019 Pan-American Games, Bulaich should be part of Argentina’s roster this season and is in contention for a spot in the squad that will compete at the Tokyo Olympics at the end of July.
“I’m absolutely happy, we had this in mind from the very beginning,” Bulaich added. “We wanted to be in the finals again and we worked a lot to have this opportunity. To end the season like this is amazing, I have no words.”
“I’m so happy with this MVP award. I made a lot of personal changes that helped me get it, but I want to thank my teammates for it. We’ve been playing since last Monday, it wasn’t easy but we took it all on and closed the season in the best possible way.”
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Main Photo: Feva