Egypt easily chalk up their second victory

Defending champions Egypt claimed their second match and remained on course to retaining their crown with another polished performance, brushing aside Senegal 3-1 (25-20, 25-11, 25-14) at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on Wednesday.

“Our game plan worked. We knew how the Senegalise play and contained them. They are tall and we had to improve our blocking department. This helped us win. We are now focusing on our next match against Tunisia on Thursday,” said Egyptian coach, Hesham Badrawy.

The Egyptians’ spiking, notably from Abouel Nermin and Hussein Yasmin out wide, was more accurate and venomous, taking them to a one point lead, 8-7, at the first technical time-out.

When the Senegalise attack ran up against strong Egyptian blocking and fell behind 10-8, coach, Amadou Sene called for a time out.

Amina Diop, feeding off a short set from Adama Adama, brought Senegal back into it. Egyptian, Elbitar Dina was proving too hot to handle for blockers, Amina and Fatou Mamy and an excellent back court dig from Esraa Ahmed enabled Abd El Fattah Nahla to stroke another beautiful winner up the right.

Yasmin gave Tall Awa Awa a taste of her own medicine with some razor-sharp blows down the middle, and coach, Amadou Sene had to call for a time out.

But there was nothing Senegal could do to stop Dina pouncing like a panther for 19-18 lead. The Senegalese attack completely broke down, prompting a timeout at 22-18, and Nassef Nada thrashed one past libero Awa Awa on the resumption for 23-18.

Yasmin carved through the Senegalese defence for set point at 24-19, and the same player popped up on the opposite flank to close it 25-20.

Comeback unlikely

In the second set, Egypt were again on the driving seat with Nada, Emam Menatalla doing the damage.

A briliant Amina spike could not prevent Nosseir Lamis from gobbling up the rebound and firing Egypt into the first technical time out with a five-point lead, 8-3.

And that was the same song by the second technical time out, 16-4, for Egypt. A couple of successive errors by the Egyptians couldn’t help their opponents, who were left ton wonder what had hit them after going down 25-11 for the second.

In the third, the persistent Diop Amina tried to spark Senegal back to life with a sizzling spike on the right, but an astonishing dipping attack from Nahla sent the Senegalese into a time out trailing 5-8.

A Senegalese comeback looked unlikely with Egypt capable of shifting up a gear when necessary. Nahla did just that, 16-9 at the second technical time out.

Fatma and Yasmin scored impressively to send Egypt into a time out with their lead at 21-9, before Dina ended it 25-14.

Thursday’s matches:

3pm-Egypt vs Tunisia
5pm-Kenya vs Senegal