Photos credit: Thailand Volleyball Association; www.facebook.com/ThailandVolleyballAssociation
Bangkok, Thailand, March 6, 2022 – Diamond Food Fine Chef Sport Club brought curtain down on the 17th est Cola Volleyball Thailand League season 2021-2022 with a perfect sweep of both men’s and women’s titles after straight-set wins in the Sunday’s showdowns at Nimibutr Gymnasium.
Diamond Food captured their unprecedented men’s title after brushing off Phitsanulok VC 25-19, 25-18, 25-21 in the Sunday’s showdown, while their women’s side retained their crown following a scintillating 25-18, 25-17, 26-24 win against Supreme Chonburi E-Tech, former successive two-time Asian Club champions and former three-time Thailand League winners.
Supreme did not drop a single match to their respective rivals en route to the Sunday’s final against Diamond Food, the team they had already beaten for three times this season. The Sunday’s victory was a sweet revenge Diamond Food had gained against the formidable rivals.
Following their exceptional wins on Sunday, Diamond Food received the green light from the Thailand Volleyball Association to represent Thailand in the next season’s Asian Men’s and Women’s Club Volleyball Championships.
This was the second time that the men’s and women’s champions of the Thailand League came from the same club in one season. In the 2013-14 season, Nakhon Ratchasima reigned supreme for both men’s and women’s events for the first time in history, giving Diamond Food the second time to repeat the similar feat.
However, Nakhon Ratchasima Qmin C VC and Diamond Food, respective men’s and women’s champions in the previous season of the Thailand League, have been confirmed to carry the Thai flag and hopes at this year’s Asian Men’s Club Championship in Iran in May and Asian Women’s Club Championship in Kazakhstan respectively.
The Thailand League, which maintains strong ties with international volleyball governing bodies, adhering to the rules and regulations set by the FIVB and the AVC, kicked off the 2021-2022 season in both men’s and women’s teams on December 8, 2021 and continued the action-packed encounters on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays in the middle of the week as before.
This season, matches in the first three weeks were held at The Mall Bangkapi’s MCC Hall, while the rest of the competition until the end of the season took place at Nimibutr Gymnasium, Suphachalasai National Stadium of Thailand.
Regarding the competition system, eight club teams apiece in the men’s and women’s teams vied for the eventual crowns. All participating teams competed in the single round-robin First Leg in both events. Only top six teams advanced to the Second Leg, with the bottom two teams relegated to the Pro League and the top two teams in the Pro League automatically promoted to replace them in the next season).
The six-team Second Leg saw all participating teams play head-to-head again, with only top four teams progressing to the Final Series. The team finishing top of the standing met the fourth-ranked side and the second-ranked team took on the team finishing third. The two winners in this stage battled it out for the eventual title, with the losers contesting the third-place playoff for bronze medal.
Review of Men’s First Leg, Second Leg and Final Series
Teams strutting their stuff in the men’s event this season comprised defending and seven-time champions Nakhon Ratchasima QminC VC, Diamond Food Fine Chef Sport Club, Gold City Asia Univ Koh Kood Cabana, Phitsanulok VC, Payak Sensei, Yaguso RMUTT Samutprakarn VC, Kasetsart VC and I AM Prince Sisaket.
After hard-fought men’s encounters in seven weeks, Nakhon Ratchasima, powered by veteran Wanchai Tabwises, veteran setter Saranchit Charoensuk, young talent Thanat Bamrungpakdi and Kazakh ace spiker Sergey Rezanov, got the 2021-2022 season off to a flying start with unchallenged 21 points from seven wins on the trot to emerge as the First Leg winners.
Diamond Food finished second in the First Leg with 18 points from six wins against one loss, while Gold City Asia Univ Koh Kood Cabana and Phitsanulok came in third and fourth places with 15 and 11 points respectively. Payak Sensei, Samutprakarn VC finished 5th and 6th places with 9 and 5 points respectively to survive the early exit from the three-month-long competition. Kasetsart VC and winless IAM Prince Sisaket finished on the bottom two to unfortunately crash out of the competition and to be relegated to the Pro League.
At the end of the Second Leg on February 20, Diamond Food, which turned things around to come up with their superb performance, and Nakhon Ratchasima were tied at top with 33 points from identical 11 wins against one loss. However, Diamond Food had a better set win ratio to capture the top spot in the Second Leg, with Nakhon Ratchasima in second place.
Phitsanulok VC bagged 20 points from seven wins against five losses to come in third place, with Koh Kood Cabana in fourth position. Payak Sensei and Samutprakarn VC finished fifth and sixth places to bow out of the competition.
Following their spectacular display, Diamond Food, Nakhon Ratchasima, Phitsanulok and Koh Kood Cabana had secured their berths in the Final Series, where all participating teams had to start from zero in renewing the rivalries.
The single round-robin Final Series saw Diamond Food prove a cut above the rest to capture the top spot with 8 points from three consecutive wins, followed by Phitsnulok VC with 5 points from two wins against one loss. Title-holders Nakhon Ratchasima came in third place with 4 points from one win against two losses and winless Koh Kood Cabana finished fourth.
As a result, top team Diamond Food took on fourth-ranked side Koh Kood Cabana in the semifinals, with third place Nakhon Ratchasima challenging old foes and second-ranked team Phitsanulok in the do-or-die contest.
Men’s semifinals
In the first men’s semifinal clash on Saturday, the penultimate day of the Thailand League 2021-2022 season, Armin Mustedanovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgarian Miroslav Stefchov Gradinarov, Kissada Nilsawai and left-hander Pusit Phonarin steered Diamond Food to a straight-set (25-17, 25-22, 25-10) win against Koh Kood Cabana and a place in the Sunday’s final showdown.
The second semifinal encounter saw left-hander Amorntep Konhan in devastating form as he scored a match-high 26 points to lift Phitsanulok the dramatic 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 26-28, 25-16) win against Nakhon Ratchasima, shattering the rivals’ sweet dreams of winning the Thailand League for eight times including three in succession.
Phitsanulok set up the men’s final showdown with Diamond Food on Sunday, while reigning champions Nakhon Ratchasima took on Koh Kood Cabana in the bronze-medal match.
Review of Women’s First Leg, Second Leg, Final Series
Meanwhile, reigning champions Diamond Food Fine Chef Sport Club led the charge in the women’s competition this season with strong challenges from former three-time Thailand League champions Supreme Chonburi E-Tech, Nakhon Ratchasima QminC VC, Khonkaenstar VC, Nakornnont, Proflex RSU VC, Kasetsart VC and Black Power VC.
After a disappointing outing to finish third place at the previous season, Supreme Chonburi came back much stronger this time to seal the top spot in the First Leg with 21 points from seven wins in a row, followed by Diamond Food Fine Chef Sport Club with 18 points from six wins against one loss.
Former four-time Thailand League winners Nakhon Ratchasima came in third place with 12 points from four wins against three losses. Khonkaenstar VC, Nakornnont, Proflex RSU VC, Kasetsart VC and Black Power VC finished 4th-5th-6th-7th and 8th respectively, leaving the bottom two teams, Kasetsart and Black Power, to get relegated to the Pro League in the next season.
After that, top six teams advanced to the round-robin Second Leg, which saw Supreme Chonburi continue their unbeaten run to top the women’s charge with 36 points from 12 consecutive wins. Closest rivals Diamond Food finished second with 30 points from 10 wins against two losses, while Nakhon Ratchasima, Khonkaenstar, Nakornnont and Proflex RSU VC came in third, fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively. The bottom two teams, Nakornnont and Proflex RSC, crashed out of the competition.
In the round-robin Final Series, Supreme went on their exceptional form to top the standing with 8 points from three straight wins, while Diamond Food finished second with one point behind from two wins against one loss. Nakhon Ratchasima and Khonkaenstar came in third and fourth places.
Women’s semifinals
In the Saturday’s semifinals, unbeaten Supreme Chonburi proved too strong for Khonkaenstar to brush off the fourth-ranked team in a lopsided battle 25-18, 25-10, 25-5, with second-ranked team Diamond Food demolishing Nakhon Ratchasima in straight sets 25-19, 26-24, 25-23.
Supreme Chonburi set up a women’s final clash with Diamond Food on Sunday, with Khonkaenstar taking on Nakhon Ratchasima for bronze medal.
Final showdowns
On Sunday, the final day of the Thailand League 2021-2022 season, four matches were held to determine the eventual winners in both men’s and women’s events and the bronze medallists.
In the men’s event, defending champions Nakhon Ratchasima QminC VC, fourth place at the last year’s Asian Men’s Club Championship on home soil, faced a tough test against Gold City Mor Asia Koh Kood Cabana in the men’s third-place playoff match.
However, fielding more individual talents, Nakhon Ratchasima pulled off a dramatic 3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 22-25, 26-24) win for a well-earned third place and bronze medal, leaving Koh Kood Cabana to finish fourth place.
In the afternoon showdown, Diamond Food, a side packed with talents, were superior in every department against Phitsanulok and faced no issues in shutting out the young rivals in straight sets 25-19, 25-18, 25-21 to capture the Thailand League title for the first time in history.
In the previous three editions, Diamond Food advanced to the final showdown to come within a whisker of winning their historic title, only to go down to Air Force in the 2018-19 season and to Nakhon Ratchasima in the next two seasons, 2019-20 and 2021-22 for silver medal three times in a row.
In the women’s event, Nakhon Ratchasima had to be content with bronze medal after a dramatic 3-1 (25-18, 25-23, 21-25, 25-14) triumph against Khonkaenstar in the Sunday’s third-place playoff encounter.
The highly-anticipated showdown between title-holders Diamond Food and Supreme Chonburi saw the former strong tactically and technically with the likes of the world’s renowned setter Nootsara Tomkom, hard-hitting Sasipaphon Janthawisut, Cuban Liannea Castaneda Simon and Kaewkalaya Kamulthala, with the latter powered by star spiker Pleumjit Thinkaow, Malika Kanthong and Sutadta Chuewulim.
Diamond Food took the first two sets without much efforts 25-18, 25-17, but in the third set, Supreme regained their composure to take a commanding 24-21 lead, needing only one more point to win the set and to make amends in the next two sets. Still, Supreme just let the win slip through their fingers as Diamond Food gradually pulled their game together to win back-to-back points to catch up with them 24-24 and storm on to win two more points for the comeback win in the set 26-24, match and the eventual crown.
FINAL RANKINGS
MEN
1. Diamond Food Fine Chef Sport Club
2. Phitsanulok VC
3. Nakhon Ratchasima QminC VC
4. Gold City Asia Univ Koh Kood Cabana
5. Payak Sensei
6. Yaguso RMUTT Samutprakarn VC
7. Kasetsart VC
8. IAM Prince Sisaket
WOMEN
1. Diamond Food Fine Chef Sport Club
2. Supreme Chonburi E-Tech
3. Nakhon Ratchasima QminC VC
4. Khonkaenstar VC
5. Nakornnont
6. Proflex RSU VC
7. Kasetsart VC
8. Black Power VC
Men
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