Who is Sassa?
She is an outside hitter from Brazil who has competed in 2 Olympics: 2004 Athens where Brazil finished 4th, and 2008 Beijing where Sassa and Team won Brazil’s first Olympic Gold in women’s volleyball. After playing in 3 World Championship (2002, 2006 & 2010), 2 World Cups and several editions of the World Grand Prix, Sassa is the most experienced player on the National Team. For the 2010/2011 season, Sassa & Team Sollys Osasco failed to defend their Superliga crown against Sheilla Castro and Team Unilever.
Stats:
Name: Wélissa de Souza Gonzaga
Jersey Name: Sassá
Date of Birth: September 9th, 1982
Height: 1.80M
Weight: 82 KG
Spike: 300M
Block: 287M
Hometown: Barbacena, Brazil
Language/s: Portuguese
Volleywood Says…
2010/2011…
Sassa played amazingly in the recently concluded 2010/2011 Superliga season. Her performance really surprised us. She was her team’s most consistent weapon. Sassa stepped up her game and we hope coach Guimaraes will give her a starting position when the international season kicks off (watch out Mari, Paula and Jaqueline!).
Sassa can do it all! She is not the hardest hitter but plays consistent and smart volleyball. In our opinion she is the most underrated Brazilian player at the moment. She’s the “Marcia Fu” of our generation.
We Remember…
At the semifinal match during the 2010 World Championship versus Japan, Brazil was already down 2 sets when Sassa came in as a sub for the struggling Jacqueline in the 3rd set. Sassa did not disappoint! She racked up crucial points and her firecracker presence ignited Brazil’s memorable turnaround. Winning sets 3 and 4 allowed Brazil to gain momentum up to the tiebreak where Sassa and Team were too much to handle for Takeshita, Saori and the Japanese squad.
As soon as at the match concluded, we started to remember the greatness of Sassa who pretty much took the leadership duties since the legendary Fofao and Walewska retired from the team.
Outlook…
For the upcoming 2011 season, we really have high hopes for her. With the mediocre performances of Jaqueline and Paula Pequeno in the Brazilian League, we have a feeling that we are going to see more of Sassa when Brazil competes in the 2011 World Grand Prix.
What do you think?!
(images: FIVB)
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