In Kelibia, Tunisia

Kenya Pipeline Monday suffered their second loss at the Africa Clubs further Championships complicating their chances of making it to the semi-finals.

The Oilers, who lost 3-2 to Nigeria’s Customs Services on Sunday, needed to pick at least a point against Pool “B” leaders Carthage to proceed to the last four but ended up losing 3-0 (11-25, 16-25, 20-25) to the Tunisian giants. 

The loss leaves them in second place with 10 points, five behind Carthage and two ahead of Customs who play AS Douanes of Burkina Faso at 6pm EAT. A 3-0 or 3-1 victory for the Nigerians will hand them three points and a place in the semis. 

“I’m aware we could be out and I’m prepared to play for position 5 or 6. That is my position and I take it with a lot of pride. We live to fight another day,” said Gitau. 

Gitau blamed the loss on poor preparations back at home which saw them train indoors for over two months as well as the unfortunate injury to Trizah Atuka on Sunday. 

“I’m disappointed because my team was disoriented with the injury to atuka. I had to talk to them the whole night and encourage them that injuries are part of the game but it doesn’t mean it’s the end. We agreed to play harder and fight for her but we did not do it,” observed Gitau, before delving into their poor preparations.

“The preparations we had at home are not worthy of this competition. We trained outdoors for long yet indoor is something totally different and this will affect all Kenyan teams including Prisons. The indoor ball is lighter and my player struggled to adjust,” assessed Gitau. 

Home team Carthage showed they meant business right from the onset with skipper Khouloud Jinhani guiding them to an 8-1 lead thanks to her tricky services.

Pipeline coach Paul Gitau, who preferred to start with youngsters Metrine Wabwile and Magdalyne Chemtai as his outside hitters, watched helplessly as his side trailed 16-6 at the second technical timeout. 

Carthage finally sealed the set at 25-11 forcing Gitau to make changes for the second set.

“My players never settled in the first set especially the experienced ones. All of them tensed which gave me a hard time coming up with a team that could fight,” noted Gitau, who brought in Winnie Odhiambo for Chemtai while Ruth Jepngetich replaced Tebla Simiyu. 

Yet the storm was not weathered as Pipeline trailed 8-3 and 16-10, this time Carthage’s foreign import Marina Tumas and Othmani Abir doing the damage for the Tunisian side as they emerged 25-16 winners. 

At this point, the rift in class between these two sides was evident and Gitau played his last card.

Gaudencia Makokha, who is normally an outside hitter, moved to the middle, while Chemtai returned on court as an opposite. 

And it worked as Pipeline led for the first time 8-6 at the first technical timeout before Carthage recovered to turn the tables 16-14 at the second technical timeout. It was still anybody’s game at the death but inexperience set in.

Wabwile sent her attack off court, Chemtai’s reception went awfully off target then a monster block from the impressive Abir settled matters. Carthage sealed the third set at 25-20 to finish top of the group unbeaten with 15 points. 

“I think I found the right team in the third set. I was impressed by how they played and I think I’m going to concentrate more on them and make them great players. 

“I want to give them more matches and understanding of the game so that next year I don’t come here and mourn. If you look at Carthage they have stayed together for long and understand their system. This is all that we need,” said Gitau.