Volleyball: National League-Premium Spikers, Beau Vallon, Cascade and Friends stay unbeaten |23 May 2012

Denys, who led the country’s women’s team to winning two consecutive gold medals at the Indian Ocean Island Games in Reunion in 1998 and Mauritius in 2003 before losing the final to Reunion in Madagascar in 2007, chose to make his comeback against defending champions Premium Spikers but his new team Racing Club could not give him a winning debut.

After losing the first two sets 14-25 and 18-25, Racing Club upped their game in the third pushing Premium Spikers to the limit, but it was too little too late as they still lost the set 24-26 and the match 0-3 after 68 minutes of play.

Premium Spikers, who were without coach Bernard Denis on their bench, have four wins in as many matches for 12 points, while the defeat was the second in four games for Racing Club whose next fixture is against Neo Boyz.

Hopefully, coach Denys can get his tactics right against coach François Magloire’s Neo Boyz who needed 63 minutes to whitewash Anse Royale 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-19).

In the other men’s top flight encounter, Beau Vallon walked over Praslin Warriors who are winless in four matches. With four wins and 12 points like Premium Spikers, Beau Vallon now lead the standings on set score difference. They have game points difference – +162 against Premium Spikers’ +78.

In the women’s division one league, the Cascade/Arsu fixture failed to live up to expectation but reigning champions Cascade did enough to beat record championship winners Arsu 3-1 (25-16, 27-25, 13-25, 25-16) after 94 minutes of play to stay unbeaten in four games, bringing their points tally to 12.

The defeat was Arsu’s second in five games and they are third on the table with 11 points – one less than leaders Friends who did not need long to beat Santa West 3-0 (25-10, 25-14, 25-9) for their four consecutive win. Like Cascade, Friends have 12 points but lead the former on set score difference – +12 for Friends and +10 for Cascade.

The other women’s top-flight encounter between Juniors and OSC Comets proved to be a real marathon and the former needed two hours and five sets to grab the win and three points. Coached by Marie-Ange Bouchereau, Juniors won the match 3-2 (25-19, 25-19, 21-25, 22-25 and 17-15) for their first victory in four games for six points.

In the women’s division two league, Roots beat St Louis Bombers 3-2 (18-25, 25-21, 25-14, 11-25, 15-4) and Mont Fleuri earned their first win in five tries with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-9, 25-16) win over Aros, while Juniors earned a 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-17) victory against Cadets in the only men’s division encounter.

G. G.