Seychelles Volleyball Federation (SVF) Cup-Mouth-watering Arsu/SMB semifinal today |07 October 2008

Third finishers in the Women’s Division One league behind winners Arsu and runners-up Cascade, SMB have recruited heavily during the mid-season break – adding hard-hitter Antoinette Asba (formerly Quatre) from BSA Sisters and Vanita Rose from La Digue to their roster.

On Sunday at the Palais des Sports, SMB dropped the first set but recovered to collect a 3-1 (20-25, 25-12, 25-18, 25-16) quarterfinal win over La Digue, who had needed five sets to eliminate Second Division side Santa West 3-2 (17-25, 25-23, 26-24, 21-25, 15-10) in their preliminary round game on Saturday.

On the same day, Arsu had no trouble beating BSA Sisters 3-0 (25-22, 25-8, 25-17) to book a place in the semifinals.

BSA Sisters beat Cascade Youth 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-9) to reach the quarterfinals.

After walking over St Louis Bombers, Roots Sisters whitewashed Beau Vallon Sisters 3-0 (25-9, 25-18, 25-17) to make the other semifinal, where they will meet Cascade on Thursday at 5.15pm at the Palais des Sports.

Given a bye in the first round, Cascade had no opponents in the quarterfinals after both Bel Ombre Squada and United Sisters did not turn up for their game on Saturday.

In the men’s competition, Beau Vallon, who made a clean sweep of all the titles last year but have lost the 2008 league title to rivals Premium Spikers, play Outsiders today.

Beau Vallon beat St Louis 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-18) on Saturday, while Outsiders were lucky to receive a bye straight into the semifinals.

The other semifinal is between Racing Club and Premium Spikers on Thursday.

Racing Club, who have lost Kishnan Chetty to Beau Vallon, needed 58 minutes to beat Roots 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-21), while Premium Spikers eliminated Men’s Division Two winners BSA Spikers 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-20) in 57 minutes of play.

G. G.