Women’s Volleyball Premier League:
Saipa defeats Paykan, crowned Iranian champion
Saipa was crowned the Iranian Women’s Volleyball Premier League champion, thanks to a 3-1 victory over Paykan in Tehran.
Having won the first game of the best-of-three series in four sets on Tuesday, Saipa repeated the scoreline on Thursday to defend its title.
Saipa had to bounce backs from a 27-25 loss in the first set to come out victorious 25-20, 25-17, and 25-19 and lift third top-flight crown under head coach Samira Imani.
The triumph also secured a place for Imani’s girls at the inaugural AVC Women’s Champions League – starting April in Pasig, Philippines.
Sapia will be drawn in Group C of the 12-team tournament alongside China’s Beijing BAIC Motor and Vietnamese champion VTV Binh Dien Long An.
Saipa had registered a remarkable 16 victories – conceding a single defeat – to finish atop the league table and then rallied from behind to beat Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan in the last-four best of three series.
Foolad and the Iranian under-20 side jointly finished on the third podium.
There was further glory for Saipa girls in the awarding ceremony, as Mahsa Saberi was named the Most Valuable Player at the 24th edition of the competition, while sharing the Best Outside Hitter prize with teammate Mahsa Kadkhoda.
Saipa’s Soudabeh Baqerpour and Paykan’s Zahra Karimi were the joint Best Middle Blockers, with Sepinoud Dast-Barjen of the Iranian under-20 team taking the award for Best Opposite.
Saipa’s Shabnam Alikhani won the Best Setter award and Paykan’s Negar Kiani taking the Best Libero prize.