Seychelles Volleyball Federation (SVF) Cup finals-Arsu, Beau Vallon save the best for last |23 November 2009

Images of the two teams’ triumphs at the last Indian Ocean Club Championships (IOCC) Seychelles hosted in November last year are still vivid in the minds of most fans and Saturday’s good brand of volleyball reminded the big crowd, which included Community Development, Youth, Sports and Culture Minister Vincent Meriton, Youth, Sports and Culture principal secretary Denis Rose and National Sports Council chief executive Alain Volcère, that Seychelles remains a force to be reckoned with in volleyball within the region.

After losing the league title to Cascade and the Barclays division one cup to SMB, Arsu went back to the drawing board and its result has had a devastating effect.

“It hasn’t been a rosy season for us after losing so many players, among them three starters, at the start of the year. We still featured among the top teams, but we were losing finals and other important matches,” said captain Jerina Bonne.

“That’s not like us, Arsu. We told our players to stay concentrated and play hard until the final point. This is what happened today and I’m happy we won,” added Bonne after her team’s 3-1 victory.

Coached by Julien Onezime, defending six-time IOCC winners Arsu needed 18 minutes to win the opening set 25-18 and they weathered Cascade’s storm in the second and after the score was tied at 24-24 to win it 26-24 in 23 minutes.

A marathon third set followed and it took Cascade 33 minutes to win it 35-33 to cut the deficit to 2-1. But it was no stopping Arsu as Tina Agathine and veteran receptionist Marie-Antoine Gilbert joined forces with Bonne to wrap up the game at 3-1 with a 25-19 fourth-set victory.

“We just didn’t function as a unit today and it was always difficult for us,” said Cascade left-handed main spiker Marie-Claude Rose who caused Arsu all sorts of problems, sending her strong attacks into their half of the court.

The SVF Cup is Arsu’s third trohy this term after winning the curtain-raiser tournament and SVF Shield earlier on.

Beau Vallon fielded the same team who won a fifth IOCC crown last year. With Bernard Bijoux playing only his third game after coming out of retirement to help them stop Premium Spikers’ unbeaten run, the game had all the ingredients to be a classic.

Although they lost the first set 19-25 in 25 minutes, Beau Vallon rediscovered their killer instinct in the second as Danny ‘Titi’ Laramé, captain Guilly Bijoux, Benjamin Bijoux and Kishnan Chetty took turns to land powerful spikes into Spikers’ half of the court. They were level at a set apiece after winning the set 25-20 in 20 minutes.

Sensing danger and with Beau Vallon leading 23-22 in the third set, tempers almost flared as Spikers’ Daniel Lozaique and Joliff Rose were refrained  from exchanging punches on the court and were warned by referee Michael Ah-kong.

Beau Vallon made the most of the opportunity to close the set at 25-23 in 22 minutes and they were in good heart for the fourth as they knew that a win would give them their first title this season. It was no stopping Beau Vallon this time as they played even better with a strong defence at the net to silence the Spikers’ fans and put the icing on the cake with a 24-minute 25-22 fourth-set victory.

“Respect in sport is earned and Beau Vallon deserve some,” 43-year-old Bernard Bijoux told Sports Nation.

“We showed today that we remain a good team if we train seriously and can still play some good stuff,” added the evergreen Bernard, the eldest of the three Bijoux brothers on the Beau Vallon team.

Spikers’ coach Bernard Denis was furious after the loss and said that action will be taken against the two players involved in the tussle on the court.

“Our preparation for the match went according to plan, but we gave a disappointing performance today as some players forgot what they had to do on the court.

“It’s almost impossible to beat Beau Vallon when they play well and are brimming with confidence. They deserve their victory,” said coach Denis, whose team wanted to make a clean sweep of all the titles this season after triumphing in the curtain-raiser tournament, SVF Shield, men’s first division league and Barclays division one cup.

G. G.