Professional duo of German Gyorgy Grozer and American Taylor Sander powered Al Arabi Club to a soul-soothing 3-1 victory over defending champions Al Rayyan Club in the final of the Qatar Cup Volleyball Championship, one of the three biggest events on the QVA domestic calendar.
At the Qatar Women’s Sports Committee Indoor Hall, both Grozer and Sanders peppered the Al Rayyan court with thrilling smashes to set up the 25-21 21-25 25-17 25-22 triumph.
This was the 17th final between the two big teams of Qatar. Overall, they have played 21 finals each. The 15-time winners Al Arabi Club took in one hour and 42 minutes to record their 11th triumph over nine-time champions Al Rayyan Club.
Grozer earned match-high 27 points, including 25 from his attack, while teammate Sander accounted for 21. Middle player Thiago was the next best with seven, while Renan Rebeiro had six.
For Al Rayyan Club, Cuban Oreol Camejo and Dusan Petkovic notched 13 and 12, respectively. Their Iranian professional Milad Ebadipour secured 11. Middle player Ibrahim impressed and posted nine.
Al Arabi Club’s French coach Patrick Duflos was excited with his team’s victory and the manner in which they posted it. He said, “We played excellent, I think. In the beginning of the second set, we made too many mistakes and we could not recover.
“Al Rayyan are also a good side and have been playing well right now.
“Before the match, I told my players to serve well. They did exactly that and I’m very pleased with this victory in the final.
“We were under a great deal of stress due to our poor performance in the League. So we badly needed this Cup,” he added.
In the first set, both were close. At 11-11, Grozer’s hard serves rattled Al Rayyan and Al Arabi took advantage of them to reel off four points in a row. It was a big enough lead and Al Arabi held on to it to go 1-0 set up.
Al Rayyan Club began the second set brightly and six points in a row carried them to 7-1 and then 8-2. Later Al Arabi staged a valiant recovery through a mix of efforts by Rebeiro and Sander before equalising at 12. But soon, Camejo and Petkovic combined to open another five-point advantage (21-16) and Al Rayyan rode it to tie the scores.
However, Al Arabi launched a more potent offence through Grozer and Sander. They were joined by Ibrahim, Thiago and Ahmed in the act. Al Arabi got as many as nine points ahead in the third before sealing it. The two ran close each other in the fourth. But Al Rayyan could not threaten them.
Towards the close, Grozer fired a series of spikes and set up the match point (24-21). Petkovic saved one but Sander hammered a blow from the middle to win the crown to a big applause from his team’s fans.
Sander said, “It was a great win for us. Sometimes in the middle of the match, we could not do well but we were able to finish it strongly. The second set was a bit strange. We did not serve well. I could not do much and the connections were not good. But later we responded quite hard.
“I’m happy to be in Al Arabi. All these guys are good. It’s a great fun to be here. We’re all playing high-level volleyball. It sounds good,” said the American, who won the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medal.
Al Arabi Club captain Juma Faraz said, “Definitely, we played a high-level volleyball and won the Qatar Cup. We came to this event after some bad results in the League and GCC Championships. We were determined to put in our best this time round.
“By God’s grace, we dominated Al Rayyan and won the final in four sets. Also we’re getting to our best towards the close of the season, which is very important for us,” added Faraz.
Grozer said, “I think it was a great final. I’m very happy to win the Qatar Cup for Al Arabi. It was not our best game but I always try to play for victory. Al Arabi showed good team work at the crucial moments and that was fantastic for us.”
“At some stages, the team appeared to be losing the focus. I tried to help them so that we don’t slow down the momentum. We did a great job as a team,” added the German, who was a member of Belogorie Belgorod, the winners of the FIVB Club World Championship against Al Rayyan in Belo Horizonte in 2014. Besides, he has won the 2014 World Championship bronze medal, 2013-14 CEV Champions League and 2009 European Championship gold medals.
Al Rayyan setter Andre Luiz said after the prize distribution, “It was a tough match. The truth is that they (Al Arabi) played better. I know that we could play better. Now we’ve to accept the result and try to go forward.
“We’ll see first what coach has to tell us. We’ll surely work hard and try to do better in the Emir Cup. We’re hoping to get a new player from Serbia. Maybe this move will work for us,” added the Al Rayyan player.
Result
Al Arabi Club beat Al Rayyan Club 25-21 21-25 25-17 25- 22 in one hour and 42 minutes
Teams

Al Arabi Club: Cooly, Seifeddine Elmajid, Renan Rebeiro, Amr, Taylor Sander, Abderrahman (L), Gyrogy Grozer, Ahmad, Thiago, Jorge, Miguel, Mohamed Ibrahim.
Head coach: Patrik Duflos; Assistant coach: Maaouia Lajnef
Al Rayyan Club: Ali, Milad Ebadipour, Ziad, Eykman, Bilal, Dusan Petkovic, Oreol Camejo, Mubarak Dahi Waleed, Rahimi, Kannani, Ibrahim and Andre Luiz.
Head coach: Carlos Schwanke; Assistant coach: Karim Ben Ayad