Defending men champions Kenya Prisons and Kenya Pipeline shrugged off stiff competition from their respective opponents to win their Day Two matches of the first leg of Kenya Volleyball Federation National League at Koitalel Samoei University in Mosoriot, Nandi County on Friday.
Kenya Prisons laboured to beat Equity Bank 3-2 (25-17, 20-25, 18-25, 25-19, 16-14), while Kenya Pipeline, the 2021/22 champions, had to come from two sets down to beat Nairobi Prisons 3-2 (22-25, 24-26, 26-24, 25-17, 15-7).
Kenya Pipeline head coach Paul Gitau said his team struggled to adapt to outdoor conditions hence the dull display.
“My girls train and play matches in the indoor facilities and therefore they took time to adjust but I’m happy we won the tie altogether. Going forward, if we have outdoor league matches, we just have to arrive early at the venue so that we can acclimatize or train outdoors prior to the event. From here, we intend to continue training as we will be participating in the upcoming Africa Zone V Clubs Championships in Rwanda where we hope to perform well,” said Gitau.
The championship is set for November 20 to 30 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Kenya Prisons coach Denis Mokua said good services proved decisive on the day.
“The match was tough but I’m glad we got the win. Some techniques did not work but we changed the tactic that finally won us the match. We will continue preparing as we want to be at the top when the season comes to the end,” said the former Kenyan International.
In the other match played at the same venue, reigning women champions KCB silenced Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) 3-0 (25-19, 25-16 and 25-20).
Other matches of the day were called off due to ongoing rains that made the outdoor courts unplayable.
After the completion of the National League, Heroes National Tournament will take centre stage on Saturday through to Sunday at the same venue with over 40 teams expected to compete.
Meanwhile, KVF is in the process of reviving talent centres in every county as one way of developing the sport from the grassroots level.
KVF chairman Charles Nyaberi said the approach was to ensure the federation has various players turning up for national teams at a young age.
“We want to have school-going children being taken through some programme which we are going to develop and bring in national coaches who can impart skills on these kids and make sure they get knowledge at an early stage,” said Nyaberi.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
