Le Hainaut started on the right foot this 11th leg of French league: 3-2 against the rookies from Vannes in a game mattering for the maintenance battle in the first league. Hazy ‘debut’ for the girls coached by Badis Oukarache who needed no less than eleven games to claim the first victory this season. Unfortunate first part of the season has sentenced them to a faultless second part. On Saturday, due to an unstoppable Ludmila Lican in tie-break, Hainaut claimed first success and therefore a slight chance to catch up on St. Raphaël whose game against Mulhouse was rescheduled for the 21st of January. On the other side, the American middle blocker, Kathleen Slay managed to keep up hopes for Vannes, but despite her remarkable scoring stats (27 points, 94% attack and 10 blocks), her team gave at the end of 5 hardly disputed sets. Terville Florange lost as well against Paris St-Cloud, this Saturday’s results preserve last week’s ranking: Vannes on the 8th position, closely followed by Terville, Istres, St. Raphaël and Le Hainaut.
Moving up to the first part of the board, RC Cannes shut out on Venelles in four acts, due to an aggressive Maret Grotheus (21 points) calling out her comeback after almost ten months of absence due to an Achilles injury: 3-1: 25-10, 25-13, 24-26, 25-19). Le Cannet ran over Istres, not without putting up a hard fight the first two sets. Flawless performance so far for the girls of Ricardo Marchessi which keeps them close to the leader. Nantes, on the other hand, got overwhelmed by Béziers, who claimed a four sets win, making up for last season’s loss in the French Cup’s semifinals. Saturday’s loss helps Le Cannet consolidate their second position and take a five points lead from nantes (3rd position) who has to deal up with an extremely busy month as Champions League is due to resume its competition the upcoming week.
LAF- 11th e leg
RC Cannes 3-1 Venelles (25-10, 25-13, 24-26, 25-19)
Istres 0-3 Le Cannet (24-26, 24-26, 19-25)
Hainaut 3-2 Vannes (25-23, 18-25, 25-27, 25-19, 15-5)
SF Paris St-Cloud 3-1 Terville Florange (25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22)
Béziers 3-1 Nantes (25-17, 9-25, 25-21, 25-21)
Wednesday, 21st of January
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Mulhouse – St Raphaël
Photo: Pascal Mistral Photography Saison 2014-2015