Volleyball: 25th African Women’s Club Championship |06 April 2015

Arsu win three playoff matches to finish ninth overall

Arsu have finished in ninth place out of 13 teams at the 25th African Women’s Volleyball Club Championship which was expected to end yesterday with the final and third place playoff matches.

After losing all their three pool D matches, Arsu were forced to play the playoffs like the other teams who had not made it to the quarterfinals.

In their 9th to 16th place play-off match on Tuesday, they overcame Saltigue of Senegal in a fluctuating epic tiebreaker 3-2 (25-11, 25-12, 21-25, 15-25, 15-10). With outside hitter Marielle Bonne leading her team to win with 16 points, Arsu then whitewashed Kutlwano of Botswana 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-14). On Saturday, they avenged their 1-3 (25-19, 16-25, 18-25, 20-25) pool D loss to Injis of Cameroon with a straight set 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-22) win to take ninth position overall.

While the top-four positions were to be determined yesterday, fifth to 13th places have gone to outgoing champions GS Petroliers of Algeria (fifth), Revenue Authority of Rwanda (sixth), Vision Volleyball Club of Uganda (seventh), FAP of Cameroon (eighth), Arsu of Seychelles (ninth), Injis of Cameroon (10th), Kenyan Commercial Bank of Kenya (11th), Kutlwano of Botswana (12th) and Saltigue of Senegal (13th).

Yesterday’s final pitted Kenya Pipeline against Al Ahly of Egypt – two of Africa’s most successful female volleyball clubs when it comes to winning titles on the continent.

Before yesterday’s clash, the two sides had played in the finals of the African Women’s Club Championship a record 12 times each. Pipeline had won seven of those while Al Ahly have managed only five.

The 2015 final was Pipeline’s first since 2012 while Al Ahly were last seen in the final in 2009.

On their way to the finals, Al Ahly won a five-set thriller in a tiebreaker against Carthage Tunisia 3-2 (25-23, 16-25, 24-26, 26-24, 15-11). Pipeline also fought for 127 minutes to clinch a tough victory against Shams and needed a decisive set to overcome the Egyptians 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-19, 16-14) in the other semifinal.