AJM/FC PORTO crowned Portuguese women’s champions for third straight year

AJM/FC PORTO have emerged as Portuguese women’s national champions for the third straight season after recording a comprehensive 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-14) victory over Sporting CP LISBOA at Dragao Arena in Porto in the third round of the Lidl League championship series. The newly crowned national champions won all the games by the maximum score.

AJM/FC PORTO North Americans Kyra Holt, with 16 points, and Tia Jimerson, with 14, were the best scorers of the third and final match.

With this triumph in the championship, the Blue-and-Whites have added another accolade to their cabinet after at the beginning of the season they had lifted the Super Cup for the fourth consecutive time following their 3-2 (25-21, 24-26, 16-25, 32-30, 15-12) victory over Leixões SC at the Municipal Sports Pavilion of Santo Tirso.

Rui Moreira, AJM/FC PORTO head coach: “After having won the first two games 3-0, we had an aggressive Sporting team standing on the other side of the net ready to take more risks, which could put pressure on us but also result in more mistakes. In addition, we were playing at home and the responsibility weighed a little on us at the beginning of the first set. After stabilising our game, we ended up being the team we have been throughout the season. The games and the results show that we are the best team, and we are very happy with this title and for being able to celebrate it here, with this wonderful crowd, to whom I leave our thanks. I am very happy because this title represents the result of a lot of work we have done together.”

Rui Costa, head coach of Sporting CP: “Congratulations to AJM/FC PORTO because they are a fair winner. We, perhaps, arrived at this final in the worst phase of the season… We made a lot of errors in the service, we were not very aggressive, and we had a hard time turning defence actions into points.”