Africa-Press – Seychelles. In total, five teams from the Seychelles will be in action, from February 25 to March 4 in Mauritius, which will host the 27th edition of the CAVB zone 7 (CCCZ7) Volleyball Champions Cup.
City Ladies (national women’s champion), Cascade (national women’s vice-champion), Arsu (third dance in the national women’s league) and Neo Boys (national male champion) and Beau Vallon (national male vice-champion) will defend the quintucolores of the Seychelles Gymnase de Vacoas.
All the teams made the trip yesterday to the sister island.
If City Ladies is at this first participation, Cascade has already won the competition twice – in 1999 (in Seychelles) and in 2001 (in Mauritius). As for the Arsu team, it holds the record of victories – 10 in total. She was crowned in 1997, 2008 and 2014 in the Seychelles; in 1998 and 2015 in Madagascar; in 2006 à La Réunion; in 2002, 2003, 2009 and 2016 à Maurice.
Among the men, the national champion Neo Boyz will try to create the feat in this first participation while Beau Vallon has been crowned six times – in 1997, 2004 and 2008 (in the Seychelles), in 1998 and 2000 (in Madagascar) and a 2013 à Maurice.
The Comoros will be represented by ASIM Volleyball, the current champion of the archipelago who is at this 6th participation.
As for Madagascar, it will be represented by three clubs. Quadruple champion of zone 7, the Gendarmerie Nationale Volleyball Club (GBVB), ten-time champion of Madagascar, will be the only flag-bearer of the Grande île among men.
On the women’s side, two formations are engaged, in this case Stef’Auto which has fourteen national titles and the GNVB, national vice-champion in its first year of existence. Stef’Auto won the Indian Ocean Club Champions Cup in 2011.
To point out that Quatre Bornes VBC (female) had won a third title in a row, while Tampon (men) had dethroned the GNVB during the 26th edition in 2020 at the Palais des Sports de Mahamasima in Tananarive, Madagascar.
The women’s final pitted Quatre Bornes VBC (Maurice) against Stef’Auto (Madagascar) who overcame a two-set deficit to beat Cascade 3-2 (18-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-22 and 15- 9) during the second semi-final played.
Undefeated in the second round, the Mauriciennes, coached by Eric Louise, took place in the final to win a third star by defeating the Malagasy people of Stef’Auto 3-0 (25-21, 25-16 and 25-17).
After this historic triple (2018, 2019 and 2020), the captain of Quatre Bornes VBC, Alison Labor had this to say: “We are super happy to have won the final by 3-0. The first time we were told that it was a stroke of luck and the second time that the level was low. This time we won in the presence of all the champions of the Indian Ocean. This victory is for the island of Mauritius.
In the men’s house, it was the Réunionnais du Tampon Gecko Volley who had defied all predictions to dethrone the Malagasy from the Gendarmerie Nationale de Volleyball (GNVB) at the end of the suspense 3-2 (22-25, 25-17, 26-28 , 25-19 and 15-11) and embroider a third star on their knitting, after 2010 (à Mauritius) and 2012 (à Madagascar).
Les Reunionnais had well celebrated their return to the competition.
On the other hand, Trou aux Biches Sharks (Maurice) won the bronze medal by defeating Rodriguais de Roche Bon Dieu 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-16 and 26-24).
The women’s bronze medal was won by the Reunion women of St Denis Olympique Volleyball (SDOVB) who defeated the Seychellois women of Cascade with a score of 2-3 (19-25, 25-19, 26-24, 19- 25 and 14-16).
The only consolation for Cascade, Melina Crispin was named the best passer of the tournament.
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