After winning the French League title for the first time in club history, ASPTT Mulhouse is looking to remain among the top by adding in a few transfers: Aziliz Divoux and Ciara Michel.
A 184 cm (6’0″) setter from Belgium, Aziliz Divoux comes to Mulhouse at just 22 years of age. She began her pro career with VDK Gent Dames in 2015 but quickly moved on to Paris Saint Cloud where she played the past two seasons. With Paris, Divoux’s team earned the final spot in the playoff round after finishing eighth in the regular season standings. In the quarterfinal round they met Mulhouse, but lost 3-0 in both matches of the aggregate. Still Divoux, who has been a member of the Belgian National Team since 2015 when she was just 20 years old, impressed Mulhouse enough for them to scoop her onto their roster.
The second add-on for the 2017-2018 season is Ciara Michel, a 196 cm (6’5″) middle blocker. Michel was born in England but moved to Florida at age 10, which lead her into a career at Miami (FL) where she is the school-record holder in blocks. Her pro career began with Alemannia Aachen in Germany from 2010-2012 before she spent one season with VT Aurubis. She then jetted off to Yamamay Busto Arsizio from 2013-2015 and became the first British player to compete in the CEV Champions League as her team finished second in the event. Following that benchmark, she stayed in Turkey but switched clubs for Bursa Büyüksehir Belediyespor. A year later she was in France playing for Saint-Raphael on a squad that finished sixth in the regular season, but scored a first round upset to advance to the semifinals before falling to Le Cannet.
The two additions for Mulhouse have seen time playing for their home nation in international competition. Divoux has been part of Team Belgium since 2015 while Michel was part of the 2012 British National Team that finished tied for eighth at the London Olympics.
Mulhouse will be the team with a target on its back in 2017-2018, as they finished with the most regular season points and backed it up by winning the playoff round. This all came after the 2015-2016 season when Mulhouse finished just fourth. Now, as the Ligue AF defending champions for the first time in club history (which dates back to 1974), Mulhouse will hope their new talent can assist in another title run.
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