Volleyball: Land Marine Cup finals Arsu, Juniors claim titles |12 December 2016
First division women’s league champions and 10-time Indian Ocean Zone 7 club championships winners Arsu have added the women’s first division Land Marine Cup to their collection, while Juniors surprised division two winners Mont Fleuri in the second tier final.
On Saturday afternoon at the Palais des Sports, Arsu easily defeated arch rivals Cascade 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-16) in the final to make it their fourth title in local competitions. Women’s second division side Juniors beat bottom division league champions Mont Fleuri 3-1(16-25, 25-18, 25-16, 25-15) to clinch their first major trophy in four years.
Among the spectators were the Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture Idith Alexander, sports special advisor Jean Larue, National Sports Council (NSC) chief executive Giovanna Rousseau, Seychelles Volleyball Federation (SVF) chairman Ronald Wong and Land Marine representative Dave Prea.
The final between the two first division sides was, as expected, not exciting as the Cascade management had earlier said in the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) sports programme it was still considering whether to take part in the final due to injuries in their camp and because of some other issues raised with the SVF concerning league fixtures which were not in their favour and thus claiming to have had direct effect on the team.
Arsu captain Jerina Bonne said “the game was too easy”.
“It seems Cascade did not want to play that game for reasons they announced earlier and even though they turned up, they didn’t show they were playing in a final. But we took things easy and we made it 3-0 as planned. Our motto is to win.”
Cascade captain Teryl Songoire and teammates started well in the first set as they took the first two points only to see Arsu bounce back quickly to level the score at 2-2 before leading 8-5 at the first technical time-out. The closest Cascade came was at 12-11 before their coach François Magloire called for his first time-out with his team losing 14-19. Arsu capitalised on Cascade’s disorganised play to win the set 25-17 in 21 minutes.
In the second set, Arsu continued from where they left off in the first with wing attacker Marielle Bonne beating a three-player block to give her team the first point and they went on to lead 20-10 before Cascade took a time-out. Coupled with some bad services and poor reception, Cascade were very slow in defence which led Arsu to score easy points and Marielle Bonne closed the set at 25-13 with an easy attack after 20 minutes of play.
With a two-set lead, Arsu started the third lightly allowing Cascade to step up their play to remain level at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 up to 10-10 and one would have thought they were eyeing to win the third set. Sensing danger, Arsu put in an extra gear that forced Cascade’s coach Magloire to stay on the sidelines to give advice to his players and he even called for a time-out with the score reading 21-14 in Arsu’s favour. It was Arsu’s setter Melina Crispin who ended the match by placing the ball in the front court to win the set 25-16 in 22 minutes and the game 3-0.
Coach Magloire confirmed that they only came to play as a formality.
“Our manager Michel Pierre voiced our concerns on TV and radio, but instead of us not taking part we opted to put a team together so as to give Arsu some competition in this final,” said coach Magloire who has given assurance that his team will be ready and in full force for the SVF Cup this week.
Juniors surprise Mont Fleuri
Earlier in the women’s second division final, league champions Mont Fleuri looked set to add a second title to their cabinet as they took the first set 25-16 in 19 minutes. But Juniors, who had matched Mont Fleuri’s game in the opening set before losing the momentum, came out stronger in the second to lead 4-0, forcing Mont Fleuri’s coach Romeo Gobine to call for an early time-out.
Against a well-organised Juniors team under the guidance of coach Roy Dijoux and assistant Natalie Agnes, Mont Fleuri found the second set hard for them as Juniors dominated them in all departments to take a nine-point advantage (16-7), before closing it at 25-18 after 18 minutes.
Although Mont Fleuri tried to up their game in the third set as the two teams stayed level at 1-1, 2-2, 6-6 and 9-9, Juniors broke away slowly to win the set 25-16 after 20 minutes for a 2-1 advantage.
Juniors had everything going their way in the fourth set as they were good in attack, defence, reception, and at the service line and they completely dominated a Mont Fleuri team who were completely lost. Juniors won the fourth set 25-15 for a 3-1 game victory.
A happy and smiling Juniors captain Camilla Francourt was overjoyed after the win. “Even though we lost the first set we were eager to win the title. We wanted to win and through determination we did it. It is a great accomplishment for us as it is our first trophy during the four years we have been together as a team,” said captain Francourt.
A disappointed coach Gobine, on the other hand, said his team underestimated Juniors.
“We had prepared ourselves very well for this match and I don’t know what went on in my players’ minds after winning the first set. The level of our game dropped completely. Nothing worked for us,” he said.
The cups were presented to the winners and runners-up by Minister Alexander and Mr Prea.
P. J.
