Kenya’s depth has coach Tarus purring as continental show starts

Kenya’s Wafalme Stars coach Gideon Tarus is a confident man as the CAVB Men’s African Nations Championship serves off on Sunday here at the Cairo International Stadium.

Kenya is among 15 African nations participating in the biennial event.

The draw was conducted on Saturday night with Kenya landing in Pool C alongside runners-up of the previous edition, Cameroon, Libya and Ghana.

Tarus, who guided Kenya to a ninth-place finish in the 2021 tournament held in Rwanda, believes he has a richer squad this time round after his second team staged a remarkable comeback to win two sets against Morocco (21-25, 26-28, 25-22, 25-22) in a build-up match on Saturday at the Cairo International Stadium. Both teams agreed to play only four sets in this practice match.

Morocco had beaten Kenya’s first team in the first two sets (21-25, 26-28) where Tarus opted to start with setter Brian Melly, middle blockers Brian Kamonde and Simeon Kipkorir, outside hitters Dennis Omollo and Joshua Kiprono, Abiud Chirchir at opposite while Sam Juma handled the libero duties.

Both coaches rested their first teams for the last two sets and it’s Tarus’s charges who won this contest 2-0 (25-22, 25-22).

Kelvin Maiyo started as the setter while captain Enock Mogeni was the opposite. Outside hitters Cornelius Kiplagat and Aggrey Kibungei, middle blockers Shadrack Misiko and Bernard Wechuli and libero James Mutero completed the second team.

Tarus singled out outside hitters Kiplagat and Kibungei for praise after the pair inspired Kenya to win the last two sets.

“This friendly was very important to us as coaches because it has given us an idea of how we are going to field the team. I wish we had played two more friendlies like this because they would have helped us gauge our team," Tarus said.

“Kiplagat and Kibungei were substitutes and they had a very good game. They have shown us that they are ready. This is what we were looking for in the second team and we are happy with their performance. It’s upon us as coaches to come up with a good combination that can give us victory,” added Tarus.

Morocco’s Italian coach Paolo Montagnani was also impressed by the Kenyan team, tipping them to be among the surprise packages in this year’s edition.

“Kenya just showed us why it is difficult to beat African teams. They are powerful and have a strong physical approach. They have good potential and if they get good reception, it will be very difficult to beat them,” said Montagnani, who has vast experience having coached in Italian, Polish and Japanese leagues before.

Commenting on the first two sets that Morocco won, Tarus noted that his charges need to improve on defence and services to reach the knockout stages.

“I am happy with the scores, pushing a team like Morocco like this is impressive. We are happy with our attacking combinations but we have noted some errors in defence especially when the opposite is attacking. It’s something we need to work on because good blocking on the net will improve our back court defence,” observed Tarus.

“Our opponents were also comfortable in receiving jump services so we are thinking of having a variety of jump and float service depending on the game situation,” added Tarus.

The first set was evenly contested until 17-17 when Morocco pulled away in the decisive moments through the reliable opposite Mohamed Al Hachdadi to win at 25-21.

Kenya regrouped in the second set as Tarus maintained his first six only swapping Juma for Mutero who started as the libero. Wafalme started strongly and matched the Moroccans in every rally.

Kenya led 23-19 at some point in the second set but a series of individual errors and tricky serves from Morocco saw the North Africans draw level at 26 before winning it at 28-26.

Again, Wafalme Stars had a bright start that they maintained to lead 23-20.

Poor reception allowed Morocco to close in at 23-22 but that’s the far they could reach as Mogeni won the set with a monster block at 25-22.

Juma resumed his libero duties in the fourth set as Tarus maintained the first six that won the third set. Yet it was Morocco who went ahead 9-6. An ace from the impressive Kibungei levelled the game at 15-15.

Misiko and Mogeni then produced two monster blocks as Kenya sensed victory.

Kiplagat’s services drew two overpasses that were superbly killed by Kibungei and Misiko forcing Morocco coach Paolo Montagnani to call for a time-out with Kenya leading 23-21. But it was a little too late as an error from service gifted Kenya the set at 25-22.