National men's senior volleyballer Marc-Anthony Honore, a middle-blocker, and his Portugal Federation Men’s Honda A-1 Division-leading SL Benfica extended their winning streak to a perfect 12-0 to start the 2021 season with back-to-back wins on the weekend.
Playing the first of the weekend double-header on Saturday, SL Benfica, recent winners of a ninth Super Cup in ten years, defeated AA Sao Mamede 25-18, 25-15, 22-25, 25-14.
The win pushed Benfica's record to an 11-0 make with only four sets dropped, before they eased past SC Espinho 25-16, 25-23, and 25-22 on Sunday to make it a perfect 12-0 and 36 points at the top of the 15-team table.
A distant second is Viana with 24 points and a 9-0 record ints clear of Viana who are also unbeaten after nine matches. Sporting CP also has 24 points, but with an 8-2 record, the same as fourth-placed Esmoriz.
A 13-year veteran, Honore and his Portuguese club were also unbeaten for the 2019/2020 domestic season with a 24-0 record before the competition was halted due to the coronavirus in early March.
However, the T&T player and his team-mates have not dropped off the pace since the season started and are yet to lose a match in any competition having also reached the last-eight of the 2020/21 European Challenge Cup after being handed a round-of-16 default series win over Hungarians, VRC Kazincbarcika.
Over in Turkey, senior women’s volleyball middle-blocker, Sinead Jack-Kisal and Ilbank suffered a fifth straight loss in the 16-team women’s Volleyball League (Sultanlar Ligi), on Sunday.
In her first season with the club after two years in Japan Volleyball Women’s Premier League with Denso Airybees, Jack-Kisal’s and her team-mates went under to Aydin Buyuksehir Belediyespor 18-25, 23-25, 24-26 to drop to 2-11 to remain 14th on the table with six points, three ahead of Besiktas (1-14) who they face on Wednesday while cellar-placed Beylikduzu is winless after 14 matches.
This is Jack-Kisal's second stint in Turkey having enjoying a successful stint with Galatasaray from 2016 to 2018.
The San Fernando-born Jack, a national senior team player since 2011 and nicknamed “The Grenade” for her explosive spikes from clever short-range reverse set play earned a runners-up medal in Turkey 2016/2017 and was fourth in the 2017/2018 campaign.
She played locally for the University of T&T (UTT), also enjoyed stints with Poland’s AZS Bialystok (2010-2013) before moving to Russian club, Uralochka NTMK (2013-2016).
