Volleyball: National league-Cascade, Friends in two-horse race |29 August 2012

Locked on 34 points and with identical win-lose statistics of 11-1 in 12 games played, the two rivals kept the suspense intact last weekend at the Palais des Sports with wins against tough opponents.

Outgoing champions and leaders Friends came from two sets down to edge a spirited Arsu 3-2 (22-25, 23-25, 25-14, 26-24, 15-7) after 125 minutes of play to lead the eight-team standings by virtue of a superior set score difference of +27 – 35 for and 8 against.

As for Cascade, they dropped a set against La Digue but still won the 97-minute tussle 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 25-12, 25-10) on Saturday. They have a set score difference of +24 – 35 for and 11 against.

Coached by Nichol Lesperance, La Digue returned to the Palais des Sports on Sunday and confirmed third position in the standings after winning their final league match on a 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-23) score against a disappointing Juniors.

Former champions Arsu still have two matches left, but fourth place is the highest position they can finish after registering seven wins and five losses in 12 matches played.

OSC Comets battled to a 3-1 (25-13, 25-20, 24-26, 25-22) victory over bottom team Santa West who are winless in 12 games.

With 16 points, OSC Comets are a place from bottom, while Juniors are fifth on 22 points and Praslin Volleyball Club are sixth on 17.

The only men’s division one match on the programme between Neo Boyz and Racing Club was won by the former by walkover.

According to Racing Club’s Paul Lesperance, they wrote to the Seychelles Volleyball Federation (SVF) to ask for last Sunday’s match to be postponed as three of their players could not take part due to work commitment.

Derrick Andrew of the SVF office told Sports Nation that Racing Club did send them a letter on Wednesday August 22 requesting for a postponement because three of their players would not be able to play.

“The SVF told Racing Club on Thursday August 23 that they had sent their request too late.
Normally, teams have to request for a postponement of matches at least 14 days prior to the scheduled dates. In Racing Club’s case the request was sent four days prior.  Another reason why the SVF did not accept Racing Club’s request is that the team have 12 registered players and they could still have played with the nine players who were eligible,” said Mr Andrew.

Meanwhile, in the women’s bottom division, St Louis Bombers walked over Aros, while last year’s champions Island Girls lost for the fourth time in 12 games as they fell 2-3 (19-25, 25-21, 25-17, 19-25, 7-15) against Roots Sisters who have gone top of the table with 25 points.

Unbeaten in 11 games, Rainbow are second on 33 points, while Island Girls are third on 28 and St Louis Bombers are fourth on 26.

In the men’s division two, Juniors beat Airwaves 3-1 (25-27, 25-20, 25-23, 25-12) and Outsiders defeated Cadets 3-1 (25-16, 21-25, 25-19, 25-15).

G. G.