T&T middle-blocker Marc-Anthony Honore and his SL Benfica won their ninth Honda Portuguese Volleyball Super Bowl after defeating the AJF Fonte de Bastardo in three sets, 25-14, 25-18, 25-22, at the Cidade de Almada Sports Complex in Almada, Portugal, on Saturday
In doing so, Benfica won back-to-back trophies in the competition and gained self-confidence for the rest of the season in which they will defend the A-1 Division national championship as well.
Brazilian outside hitter Raphael Oliveira top-scored for Benfica with ten points while Cuban veteran Sirianis Hernández, who was building his career in the Middle East after being caught doping in 2010, scored ten points for the losing side.
The win was the second on the trot for Benfica in the competition after sweeping Sporting SC 3-0 last year and the ninth overall, the most in the history of the tournament.
It was also the second victory for Benfica over the same opponents in a week after they won the 18th edition of the Grape Tournament 3-2 at the Lamego Multipurpose Centre.
In that match, AJF Fonte de Bastardo won the first two sets 28-26 and 25-23. However, as the match became a lot tenser, Benfica applied the killer instinct and responded in the next two sets 25-27 and 13-25 to even the match 2-2.
And in the fifth and decisive set, the teams once again battled point for point until Benfica, led by Marcel Matz, distanced themselves and won 15-12 to secure the trophy.
Next weekend, Benfica serves off the defence of their league title against SC Espinho at home.
Germany-based T&T women’s spiker Channon Thompson and reigning champions Allianz MTV Stuttgart came away with an easy 25-23, 25-22, 25-14 win over rivals Dresdner in the 1st Bundesliga Women’s Volleyball League yesterday.
The Turkish setter Cansu Aydinogullari again powered Stuttgart to the win running some amazing action, while USA’s Krystal Rivers also had a great display with 22 points for Stuttgart.
During the 2019/2020 season opener the previous week, Thompson and her club began with a 3-1 win over USC Munster, 13-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-19.
Commenting on the start to the season yesterday, Thompson said, “We started a little shaky as it’s the first time this group had been together and it hasn’t yet been a full month.
“The last player joined the team the same day of our first game so it’s all quite fresh and the novelty of the team combined with our opponents’ home-court advantage allowed them the upper hand to win the first set.
“However, we pulled together, remained as a calm and positive and successfully swept the following three sets to take three complete points back home to Stuttgart.”
Over in France, Canada-born T&T setter Taija Thomas’ Municipal Olympique De Mougins defeated France Avenir 20-24 25-18, 25-17, 25-20 to start the 2019/20 regular season in the French Women’s Volleyball Championship.
However, Thomas and her club are now on a two-match losing skid after going down to defending champions Cannes 18-25, 17-25, 18-25 in round two and then VBC Chamalieres 25-23, 20-25, 23-25, 15-25 in round three.
The three other overseas-based T&T women’s players, Darlene Ramdin, Sinead Jack and Renele Forde are yet to begin their new club season.
Ramdin will line up for Israel’s Maccabi AOV Ashdod, Jack is in her second season in Japan with Denso Airybees and Forde will represent Lofke Avrupa Sports in Cyprus.