Back on the first two titles of the Poitevin Volleyball stadium

When the story of a club mixes with history with a great H. of the one that marks the records as with the two titles gleaned at the time by the Poitevin Volleyball stadium, today the Poitevin Volley-Ball stadium. At the dawn to compete in the eighth final of the French championship, this Saturday, May 10, 2025 in Lawson-Body, for the first leg against Tours, before the return scheduled a week later Salle Grenon, it is time to discuss these first coronations in 1999 and 2011.

1999: forever the first

The regular season is almost perfect, with a single defeat, in Ajaccio (3-1) and first place to the key. The team then trained by Eric NgaPeth, the father of a certain Earvin, is in full confidence when tackling the play-offs. The injuries of Dominique Daquin and the Belgian passer Ben Croes could have weakened this beautiful building. But the French international Laurent Chambertin arrives 48 hours before the quarter -final against Tourcoing as the latter’s medical joker. The Poitevins bowed in the north in the first match (3-0). Before winning the other two rounds in Poitiers (3-2, 3-0). “I knew after that we would go to the end”testifies Eric NgaPeth in our columns during the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the title.

“The atmosphere was extraordinary”

The future will indeed prove him right. Cannes is swept away in two semi-final meetings (3-2, 3-1). Before the final against Paris Volley. The stadists bowed to Paris during the first confrontation (2-3). Then are led by two sets on return to Poitiers. “But I was serene. No player was feverish ”recalls the coach. With Gino Brousseau, Paul Duerden or Tuomas Sammelvuo, the stadists will overthrow this compromised situation to win in tie-break (23-25, 28-30, 25-20, 25-16, 15-11). The beautiful, decisive, is played on Sunday May 9, 1999 in an incandescent Lawson-Body room, filled to the hangers with nearly 3,000 supporters. Who were going to explode after the three -set victory of their protégés synonymous with the first title of champion of France, three years after a first French Cup. “Oh la la, the atmosphere was extraordinary”smiles Eric Ngapeth. This coronation rewards the work and investment of a whole club with its president, Francis Morillon, and the manager, Jean-Michel Roche, both disappeared. And, at the time, there is a certain Cédric Enard, the current manager. So that history or history continues.

The workforce: Samelvuo, Steve Cholet, Steve Cholet, Steve Cholet,

2011: a second epic coronation

The 2010-2011 exercise is however strewn with pitfalls for the Poitevin Volley-Ball stadium, unhappy finalist in 2007 and 2008. The club has to face a deficit of nearly 300,000 euros. The beginnings of its loss almost a year later. He sees himself inflicting two penalty points in December by the Committee for Aid and Control of Professional Clubs. Nicolas Maréchal, one of the assets of the team, is also suspended six months for having forgotten three times to be located in the context of the longitudinal follow -up set up by the French agency for the fight against doping. Forbidden to recruitment, the SPVB cannot find a replacement for it. “It could have come in a lollipop but each problem strengthened us. We were a team of rages, guys with large characters. We all advanced in the same direction “testifies during the 10 years of the title Olivier Lecat, the coach, moreover, appointed best coach of this season.

Poitiers finished second in the regular season with a record of 19 wins for 7 defeats. In play-offs, the Poitevins first eliminate Nantes-Rezé in quarter in three games and then sète in half in two games. The final then takes place on a single game, disputed on May 14, 2011 Salle Pierre de Coubertin, in Paris, against Tours. Tours where the young Earvin Ngapeth plays, appointed best player of the season. But, in the final, Poitevin Antonin Rouzier is on fire, with 28 points to his credit. The SPVB is essential in Tie-Break, after many twists and turns (26-28, 25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 15-13) in front of 3,500 spectators and in a boiling atmosphere. “It was a crazy thing. It was incredible warmth. The two audiences had been fantastic ”says Poitevin Marc Zopie. “We deserved this title because we were looking for it”add the Nuno Pinhero passer.

A second title which now calls a third.

The workforce: André Lopes, Antonin Rouzier, Victor Rivera, Nuno Pinheiro, Jean-Philippe Sol, Oliver Kieffer, Jérémy Audric, Stéphane Alpha, Marc Zopie, Julien Pouley.