Al Arabi Club outdueled double defending champions El Jaish to clinch the QVA Cup Volleyball Tournament, the opening event of the domestic season, in a five-setter thriller on Friday.
At their home court, Adel Senoun-trained Al Arabi won the first two sets. The army team, inspired by experienced Christian Pampell, Elia Ivocovic, Mohamed Bishri and Nikola Vasic, staged a valiant comeback to win the next two sets and force the decider.
Kenyan professional Philip Maiyo, who propped up Al Arabi with his power-packed kills, led his team out of the trouble and helped them wrap up the final with a 27-25 25-20 19-25 25-27 15-13 victory.
Qatar Volleyball Association Assistant Secretary-General Yousef Kano was the chief guest at the final and gave away the prizes.
In the first set, El Jaish were ahead initially. But after drawing levels at 8, Al Arabi thrice went up by three points. They were even three set points ahead when the army players fought back to force the deuce. Al Arabi gained advantage twice more and setter Majid eventually used a clever push to win it for his team.
The second was a straight-forward and Al Arabi, with both Maiyo and Thiago Oliveira controlling the net, held the upper hand before making it 2-0. Just as it appeared that Al Arabi might run out a 3-0 winners, El Jaish bounced back and their return was spearheaded by Pampell, who clinched most of the seven points either with his net play or sizzling service, to put his team 9-2 up after 2-2.
Al Arabi made several attempts but all of them were foiled by El Jaish, who went on to clinch it to narrow the margin to 1-2. Al Arabi led mostly in the fourth. El Jaish kept rallying and at 21-23, they won two points in a row through their blocks to make it even. Al Arabi were the first to gain the match point but Pampell denied the rivals with a superb spike.
However, off their own set point after 25-25, Pampell came up with a fine poke and Majid was anticipated well and foiled at the net as he tried to use a push, which enabled El Jaish to force the tie-break set.
Al Arabi wrested the initiative after 5-each and used good pick-ups off their own smashes to forge ahead. El Jaish however came within a point to equalise at 13 from 9-13 but Vasic’s serve went into the net to hand the opponents the match point again. Al Arabi did not waste this chance and Maiyo sealed it with a kill, to the joy of a handful supporters of his team.
Senoun said: “The match was quite tough. We’d limited attacking options. But my team defended well, which kept them into the match and helped them win the title after five sets.
“Three of our first team players are doing the duty for the national team in Kuwait, while El Jaish were almost full side. So it had to be tough for us. However, I’m glad with the way my young players responded to the challenge and won the final. This will be a good experience for them and they will also know how the pressure is in the finals.”
Al Arabi captain Ibrahim Ali said, “The first competition is always tough. We come to the tournament to test our preparations over two or three months. Sometimes, the players lose their focus. It happens as it is after all a sport.
“It was a good opportunity for our young players and I they did well. Thank god, we were all focused at the right moments and we claimed the QVA Cup after five tough sets.”
Maiyo said: “A win is a win. Nothing matters how you win. There can’t be a better start to the season than winning the trophy in the first tournament. This is a big present from god.
“Yeah..it was really difficult match. El Jaish are quite strong side. We tried to win points with risky services or surprise shots here and there. Now we have won the first tournament and I think more titles are on the way this season,” added Maiyo, who is in the second year with the club.
El Jaish coach Ivan Joksimovic was upset as his team threw away a good chance to complete a hat-trick of titles. “First, I’d like to congratulate Al Arabi team on winning the title. They played well. There were two very tough sets. The final was as it should be.
“In the first two sets, we were trying to do something different. Our game was not so well. We were playing up and down. Too many calls went against us. That was why we lost the control over the match.
“But we had good service after that. There was a good cooperation between block and defence. We came back into the match and in the last set, there was a difference of only one ball. Al Arabi were lucky today and I feel our luck will also help us in the other events in the season,” added the El Jaish coach.
Results
Final
Al Arabi Club beat El Jaish 27-25 25-20 19-25 25-27 15-13
Teams
Al Arabi: Ibrahim Ali, Seifedeen Majed, Abdelaziz Mohamed Billman Wizik, Saoud Yousef, Khalid Shamiya, Thiago Oliveira, Philip Maiyo, Abdulrahman (libero)
Coach: Adel Senoun
El Jaish: Mohamed Suhail, Christian Pampell, Tareq Abdelaziz, Mohamed Bishri, Nabeel Abid, Mohamed Taha, Nikola Vasic, Elia Ivacovic, Adnand Biolbolik, Amir Makuse, Mohammed Amber (libero), Ammer Sukolar (libero).
Coach: Ivan Joksimovic