Volleyball playoffs: Champions GSU eye fifth league title

Champions General Service Unit (GSU) are in pursuit of a fifth men’s Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) National League title but they are wary of their stubborn opponents.

The league play-offs, which will determine the winner, serve off Friday to Sunday at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi.

The teams that emerged top four at the end of the regular season; GSU, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), the 2016 champions Kenya Prisons and newcomers Trailblazers will battle it out in the play-offs.

GSU coach Gideon Tarus said that despite recording their first loss of the season against KPA 3-0 in a over decade, their title defence is not under threat.

GSU also struggled against newbies TrailBlazers and Equity Bank, but held their nerve to eventually win 3-2, a development Tarus attributed to his players' failure to gel.

“The fact that we lost our first match in as many seasons and had to labour before we won against Equity and TrailBlazers doesn’t mean we will blink during the play-offs. We are aware that all the teams in the event are tough and qualified on merit, but we have it all figured out,” said Tarus, who is also the national men’s team coach.

Tarus says the trio of opposite attacker Abiud Chirchir, setter Brian Melly and middle blocker Simon Kipkorir took time to settle back at the paramilitary side after their return from their professional stints in May.

Chirchir was away with club Grand Nancy in France, Melly was with Albanian side Partizani Tirana, while Kipkorir was with Saudi Arabia’s Al Ibtisan.

“Against KPA, TrailBlazers and Equity, Melly, Kipkorir and Chirchir had not trained together with the entire team and there were bound to be mistakes, but we have since rectified and it’s all system go," said Tarus.

GSU will get their title defence against local nemesis Kenya Prisons on Friday and Tarus is keen to complete a double.

“The match against Prisons has always been the last during the previous play-offs, but this time round we play them in our first match. They are tough opponents, but we want to get them out of our way and see how the remaining ties will turn out,” offered Tarus.

GSU defeated Prisons 3-0 in the final leg.

Tarus also heaped praise on libero Andrew Wafula, who switched from setting department to libero position, after regular libero Noah Bett called it a day last year.

The first two teams at the end of the three-day event will book automatic tickets to next year’s African Clubs Championships.

GSU led the standings with 40 points, same as KPA, although the former had a better set ratio.

Prisons and Blazers had 37 points each from the same number of matches, but Prisons had a better set ratio.