Lungaho rues errors as Kenya Prisons locked out

In Kelibia, Tunisia

"Errors, poor officiating, inexperience and more errors." 

That was Kenya Prisons coach David Lungaho's assessment after they crashed out of the Africa Clubs Championships Wednesday following a 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-10) loss to Tunisia's Carthage Eagles here at the Aissa Ben Nasr Hall in Kelibia, Tunisia.

Carthage, who are unbeaten and yet to drop a set in this competition, march into the final for the fifth edition in a row. They will meet Tunisian champions CS Sfaxien, who beat Customs of Nigeria  3-0 (25-20, 25-11, 25-16) in the other semi-final, on Friday night. 

"We made so many errors when we needed not to make errors. Service-reception and attack was not very good. At very crucial moments the calls by the referee were suspect. He made very bad calls that really affected our players," a livid Lung'aho said post-match. 

Some of our players are still young in this game and when you officiate against them it really affects them for a long time. I'm happy with the performance, Meldine played very well though at the last minute she went down which was due to the demotivation from the referee," he lamented.  

Carthage found themselves trailing at the first technical timeout 8-6 for the first time in this tournament as Prisons made a bright start to the game.

But a series of errors from the experienced Lydia Maiyo saw the hosts claw their way back into the game. Maiyo was replaced by Yvonne Wavinya with Carthage leading 15-12. 

Herma Jepyego sent her service crashing onto the antenna to hand Carthage a 16-13 lead before a monster block from setter Barhoumi Marwa on Prisons skipper Prackcides Agala took them to 18-14. 

There was no stopping Rekaya Kamel's charges from there as they got the set point through Tumas Marina and won the set at 25-17. 

Lung'aho reorganised his charges for the second set introducing setter Florence Bosire for Jpepyego yet Carthage led 8-5 at the first technical timeout. Undeterred, Prisons levelled the game at 19-19 thanks to a six-point rally by substitute Diana Khisa whose services troubled Carthage's receivers. 

Both sides exchanged leads before Agala made a crucial side-out to level the game at 24-24. Carthage skipper Khouloud Jinhani replied on the other end with a clever attack to hand her side the set point. 

Agala thought she had got a touch off Marina in the next rally but the referee could hear none of it, as Carthage bagged the second set at 26-24. Lungaho believes losing the second set was the "turning point."

"The moment we lost that set they (Prisons players) were all demoralised and we couldn't even play the third set because we had believed we were going to pick the set but a few errors at the end made Carthage win," said Lungaho "Carthage are also a good team but I don't think they are worthy to beat us if only we received well." 

Prisons meet Nigeria's Customs in the third-place play-off and Lung'aho says a bronze medal will be a good way to bow out honourably from this tournament. 

"We need to consolidate ourselves because at least if we miss the final we should get the bronze medal. With the kind of play we have shown today it's not going to be easy, the players need to wake up and think about the bronze. We need to play that game very well because it's equally important," he asserted. 

Meanwhile, Pipeline enhanced their chances of finishing a respectable fifth place after thrashing Ethiopia's Wolaita Sodo University 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-05) in another match played at the same venue. 

Pipeline will face CO Kelibia in the fifth place final on Thursday after the home team also beat AS Douanes of Burkina Faso in straight sets (25-13, 25-08, 25-12). 

Thursday fixtures

Position 7-8: AS Douanes (Burkina Faso) v Wolaita Sodo University (Ethiopia) 2pm 
Position 5-6: CO Kelibia (Tunisia) v Pipeline (Kenya) 4pm