Kenya Prisons down National Alcohol in Tunisia

Kenya Prisons women's volleyball team Monday won their second match at the African Club Championships after a 3-0 win (25-10,25-17,25-9) against Ethiopian side National Alcohol in Kelibia,Tunisia.

The win enhanced their chances of topping pool ‘C’ after they won 3-0 (25-9,25-18,25-20) against Chief Naval of Nigeria in their first match on Sunday.

Prisons, who won bronze during the last edition of the event, will play Patriotic Army of Rwanda in their remaining preliminary match Tuesday.

Prisons coach Josp Barasa started with the same line up that began against Naval as the local champions took the first set 25-10.

Barasa would then give a chance to left attackers Yvonne Wavinya and Pamela Masaisai, who came in place of team captain Brackcides Agala and hard-hitting Meldine Sande in the second set.

Although Prisons bagged the second set 25-17, National Alcohol showed remarkable improvement taking advantage of their opponents' leaking blocks.

In the third set, Agala and Sande were re-introduced as Joan Jelegat came in for Anne Lowem in the middle-blocking department.

National Alcohol lost the plot and they managed to bag only nine scores with Kwanthanze Secondary School duo of setter Sheila Khasandi and libero Delphine Misiko starring in the Prisons win.

Prisons team manager David Kilundo on phone from Tunisia told Nation Sport that they were leaving nothing to chance.

“We believe that this is the time to bring back the title .....with the three top Kenyan teams here, we can't lower our expectations. I’m happy with the young players Khasandi and Misiko who have played well, bearing in mind that this is their first appearance at this stage. We can only hope for the best,” said Kilundo.

Kenya’s other representatives KCB Women’s Team and Kenya Pipeline were scheduled to play champions Carthage of Tunisia and El Wak of Ghana last night.

KCB, who are drawn in a tricky pool ‘B’, had on Sunday defeated Mimosa of Ivory Coast 3-0 (25-13,25-12,25-10), while Pipeline, who are in pool ‘D’, won against Customs of Nigeria 3-0 (25-19,25-18,25-9).

It was sweet revenge for the Oilers after the West Africans denied them a chance to proceed to the semifinal in the last edition that was held at the same venue.

Pipeline finished fifth, while KCB, who are returning to the event having last participated in 2019, finished ninth.

KCB captain Edith Wisa said they are keen to finish top in the group.

“Our match against Mimosa was good. It helped us gauge ourselves and we are not bad off. We are taking one match at a time and we hope to improve in our delivery as the competition gathers momentum," said Wisa.

Prisons were the last Kenyan team to win the title in 2013 in Madagascar after a hard fought 3-2 win over GS Petroliers of Algeria.