The Senior Volleyball Play-offs at the Gymnase de Mfandena in Yaoundé took place last weekend. Port Autonome de Douala and Litto Team Volleyball did what most people predicted they would do — they won. But tucked beneath those familiar triumphs was a story that nobody had quite written into the script: the arrival of Anna Mèches Volleyball as a genuine force in Cameroonian women’s volleyball.
Two days of smashs, digs and nail-biting rallies. Two title defences confirmed. And one promotion-season surprise that will have the volleyball community talking for months.
PAD: Still the Standard
For Port Autonome de Douala, this is simply what they do. Finishing top of the men’s standings with 12 points — five clear of second-placed Cameroun Sport Volleyball — the Douala outfit made their case with the quiet authority of a team that has long since stopped needing to prove itself.
Their decisive match against Litto Team Volleyball was, in truth, a microcosm of their entire season: composed, experienced, and capable of digging deep when it mattered most. The final set, won 30-28 in a finish that had the Mfandena crowd gripping their seats, was the sort of conclusion that champions tend to navigate and challengers tend to lose. Setter Mohamed Lamine Nsangou Lindos was again central to everything that worked, and coach Donald Beyegue continues to show a rare ability to coax his squad’s best performances at exactly the right moments.
It is worth noting that PAD arrived at these play-offs already having claimed Zone 4 honours at the African Volleyball Confederation level earlier in the year — a distinction that underlines just how far their dominance extends beyond Cameroonian borders. Twelve points, one title, and a message sent loud and clear: they remain the team to beat.
Litto Team: Three in a Row and Still Standing
The women’s championship told a slightly more complicated story, even if the ending was the same. Litto Team Volleyball are national champions for the third consecutive year, and that kind of consistency deserves proper recognition. Under coach Lavoisier, they have built something that goes beyond talent — it is a mentality, a belief in themselves that even the most turbulent of matches cannot shake.
And turbulent is precisely the word for their final against Mayo Kani Evolution. Litto Team were led, came back, were led again, came back again. It was the kind of match where momentum shifts so often that you stop trusting what you’re watching. In the end, it came down to a tie-break, and Litto Team won it 17-15 — a margin that says very little about how close it genuinely was.
Finishing on 11 points, they edged out Mayo Kani Evolution, who claimed second place on eight and who will be feeling something between disappointment and genuine belief that they are closing the gap. But this was Litto Team’s day, their title, their three-peat. For now, they hold the crown.
The Surprise: Anna Mèches Announce Themselves
Here is where the weekend took its most interesting turn. Anna Mèches Volleyball were promoted into the top flight at the start of this season. The expectation, as it usually is for newly elevated sides, was to survive — to learn, to adjust, to avoid the drop and live to fight another day. Nobody was asking them to challenge for a podium finish.
They had other ideas.
Under coaches Dorlain and Morane, and with the guiding presence of former Cameroonian international Régine Ambassa watching over the project, Anna Mèches quietly went about dismantling the modest ambitions others had set for them. Match by match, the team grew in confidence. Their performances became more assertive, their belief more visible. By the time the play-offs arrived, it was clear this was not a side simply trying to stay afloat.
They beat Forces Armées et Police convincingly in the play-offs — 3-0 across three sets (25-21, 25-18, 25-15) — and finished third overall on four points. For a promoted club in their debut elite season, that is not a mid-table finish to file away quietly. That is a statement.
The celebrations within the Anna Mèches camp had a different quality to them — less the relief of survival, more the joy of genuine achievement. It felt like a club realising, perhaps for the first time, what they might actually be capable of.
What Comes Next
So the hierarchies, for now, hold. PAD and Litto Team remain the dominant forces in Cameroonian volleyball, and nothing from this weekend suggests that is about to change in a hurry. But sport has a way of shifting when you least expect it, and Anna Mèches have just served notice that the women’s game here may be getting a little more competitive.
Whether they can build on this, retain their squad, and push even higher next season is the question worth asking. But given what they’ve already done in year one, you’d be unwise to assume they’ve peaked.
Final Standings — Women’s Senior Play-offs 2026
Litto Team Volleyball — 11 pts
Mayo Kani Evolution — 8 pts
Anna Mèches Volleyball — 4 pts
Forces Armées et Police — 1 pt
Final Standings — Men’s Senior Play-offs 2026
Port Autonome de Douala — 12 pts
Cameroun Sport Volleyball — 7 pts
Forces Armées et Police — 3 pts
Litto Team Volleyball — 2 pts
