Defending champions Al Rayyan Club brought QVA League champions Police down to the earth, winning the opening best of three semi-final of the Qatar Cup Volleyball Championship in four sets on Sunday.
At the Women’s Sports Committee Indoor Hall at the Aspire Zone, nine-time winners Al Rayyan Club unleashed a potent attack and posted a splendid 27-25 25-16 23-25 25-22 triumph in one hour and 41 minutes.
In another match, former 15-time champions Al Arabi Club also proved one-up against runners-up El Jaish, with their German and American professional duo of Gyorgy Grozer and Taylor Sander drilling a series of lethal winners. They also needed four sets to take a vital 1-0 lead, clinching the match by 25-21 22-25 25-15 25-18 in 94 minutes.
Both Al Arabi Club and Al Rayyan Club have been dominant outfits in Qatar. However, Police and El Jaish have improved gradually and started to challenge their hegemony. Police’s rise to the League title this season and El Jaish getting the runners-up spot have been the highlights so far.
However, the Cup competition allowed all the teams to reinforce their resources and Al Rayyan brought in wing spiker Oreol Camejo, the Cuban who played for El Jaish last year, and Iranian outside hitter Milad Ebadipour. Together with them, opposite Dusan Petkovic and Mubarak Dahi Waleed formed a formidable quartet.
Though Police, who are using Dane Olympian Mads Ditlevsen and Dutch Thijs ter Horst, had an encouraging start and led till the closing stages (21-18). However, Al Rayyan gathered momentum and clinched the set. They doubled up the lead after racing to a 21-11 advantage.
Police fought back and wrested the third set, in more or less the same fashion in which they surrendered the opening one. In the fourth, Al Rayyan systematically kept their nose ahead with their star players providing big smashes and helping them to record the victory in 101 minutes.
Camejo collected a match-high 23 points for the winners. Petkovic added 17, Ebadipour, playing in the Qatar for the first time, notched 14 and Mubarak got six.
For Police, Horst and Ditlevsen collected the bulk of points with 19 and 17, respectively. Middle player John Chigbo also excelled to gain 13 points.
Al Arabi Club, who have featured in the 21 finals in the championship, took some time to find their rhythm against El Jaish. By that time, both had shared the first two sets, with Al Arabi taking the first one.
Al Arabi Club looked in complete control from the third set onwards. They led by eight points in the middle of the third, going 16-8 and 21-13 ahead. After allowing only two more points, Al Arabi claimed it to take 2-1 lead.
In the fourth set, Al Arabi were 16-13 up. They suddenly opened a five-point gap (21-16) and it was too much for the army team to make up.
Grozer gathered a massive 17 winners out of his 26 points for Al Arabi Club. Taylor chipped in 20, including 16 winners. Mohamed Ibrahim also landed 10 points from the middle. Thiago did well to get seven.
For El Jaish, Polish Jakub Jarosz and Argentine Fecundo Conte had to bear the main attack responsibilities. Jarosz recorded 23, while Conte accounted for 16. David got 8.
On April 4, the teams will take to the court for the second clash. If El Jaish and Police can win, third match will be needed to break the deadlock.
Results
Al Arabi Club beat El Jaish 25-21 22-25 25-15 25-18 in one hour and 34 minutes
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Al Rayyan Club beat Police 27-25 25-16 23-25 25-22 in one hour and 41 minutes