Volleyball: League Championship-Mighty Beau Vallon stumble |30 May 2005

Before the start of their top flight fixture against Beau Vallon on Saturday at the Palais des Sports, Racing Club received new T-Shirts sponsored by Barclays Bank, represented by Sheila Gonzalez. Captain Tony Songor and his teammates decided to wear the new T-Shirts and they brought the team luck on the court.

Having already lost 0-3 to Premium Spikers earlier this month, Racing Club could not afford another defeat as it would have hindered their chances of rivaling for the championship title.

After losing the first set 20-25, Racing Club rallied to win the next three 25-20, 29-27 and 25-22 and the match 3-1 to claim the scalp of defending League and Indian Ocean Club Championship (IOCC) winners Beau Vallon who had remained unbeaten for almost a year.

The last time skipper Guilly Bijoux and Beau Vallon had suffered defeat was against Premium Spikers in the first round of last year’s League championship.

Both Racing Club and Beau Vallon have 10 points from a maximum 12 but the reigning champions hold second place with a better set score difference of +6 compared to the Racing Club’s +5.

“We are back in the title race and we stand a good chance of winning the league title.

It might be a bit early to talk about winning the league, but we are confident. Like Beau Vallon and Premium Spikers, we have to win all our remaining matches, but with some more match-ups between us, teams will surely drop points. We could have won Saturday’s match on a 3-0 score. In the first set, we fell into Beau Vallon’s trap but we changed our playing strategy in the second set and it brought us victory,” Racing Club’s captain Songor told Sports Nation.

The same day, coach Bernard Denis’ Premium Spikers shot into first place on the eight-team table with maximum 12 points as they extended their unbeaten run to four matches with a 3-0 (25-14 25-14 25-8) victory against basement team La Digue in just 38 minutes.

Coach Denis then guided Roots to a second consecutive victory, beating Bel Ombre Pirates 3-1 (21-15 26-24 25-21 25-16) after 76 minutes of play to hold fourth place with eight points.

Coached by James Camille, United Brothers moved a place up the standings into fifth position with seven points following their 3-1 (24-26 28-26 25-23 25-22) win against St Louis after 86 minutes of play.
In the women’s first division, defending champions Arsu are back into their favourite spot – at the top of the standings – after whitewashing Agrics 3-0 (25-14 25-17 25-14) in 50 minutes last Friday.

On the same day, Cascade ‘A’ needed 38 minutes to bully bottom team Glacis 3-0 (25-13 25-13 25-9) to move into third position behind second-placed La Digue.

On Saturday, Bel Ombre Shadows, who are in the bottom half of the table, celebrated a big win as they turned the tables in the women’s second division, handing United Sisters their first loss on a 3-0 (25-19 25-23 25-17) score.

RC United remain at the top of the 11-team table with 19 points following their sixth win in seven games after beating Santa West 3-1 (25-17 19-25 25-19 25-16).

LMS Sisters beat Mont Fleuri Husslers 3-0 (25-19 25-21 25-19) and SMB thumped lowly Police 3-0 (25-21 25-20 25-20).

G. G.