T&T volleyballer Marc-Anthony Honore and SL Benfica swept into the finals of the Portugal Volleyball Federation Cup competition with two tough wins over the past two days.
First up in the quarterfinals on Friday, Benfica secured a straight-sets win over AA Sao Mamede 25-14, 25-15, 25-15 at the Eduardo Soares Pavillion, Matosinhos before battling past AJF Bastardo 27-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-15 in their semifinal, Saturday.
Winners already of a record tenth Super Cup last November after a third straight triumph in the tournament, SL Benfica will meet Sporting CP in the final after the latter dismissed Leixoes 25-11, 25-18, 25-18 in the first semifinal yesterday.
Honore and his team-mates are also through to the semifinal stage of 2020/2021 Honda A-1 Division League as the second seed.
This after SL Benfica ended the eight-team second round of the campaign with a 12-2 win-loss record and 35 points, two behind AJF Bastardo (12-2), one of only two clubs to beat Benfica in their last 60 domestic matches.
In the semifinals, Benfica will come up against Sporting CP who ended with an 11-3 record and 32 points while AJF Bastardo will face fourth-placed SC Espinho (8-6) who tallied 24 points.
The quartet of Esmoriz (7-7), Castelo Maia (3-11), Viana (3-11) and Caldas (0-14) with 21, eighth, eighth and three points respectively complete the table.
Before the start of the eight-team Second Round series, SL Benfica ended the shortened regular-season due to the coronavirus pandemic with a perfect 13-0 record and 39 points, nine clear of Sporting CP and Viana, (10-2) who both had a match in hand.
In European competition, Benfica was beaten in the quarterfinal of the CEV Challenge Cup by Turkey’s Halkbank, 25-21, 18-26, 16-25, 21-25.