Kenya lose to Cuba in World Championship

Kenya continues to struggle at the ongoing Women's U-23 World Volleyball Championship in Slovenia, in the wake of Thursday's 4-0 (15-9,15-10,15-7,15-12) loss to Cuba.

The game turned into an entertaining contest for both teams who were seeking their first win of the tournament on their fourth attempt.

The South Americans however seemed to have something extra in store against coach Catherine Mabwi's charges when called upon, with Aliama Montalvo and Diaris De La Caridad proving the difference via the well timed blocks that kept Kenya top scorer Yvonne Wavinya at bay.

Besides the final scores, the Cubans also dominated in the other stats, posting 39 attacks in total compared to Kenya's 19, and two fewer errors to Kenya's 14.

"This has been a learning process for us. More like an educational trip. The positives are that we are learning and you can note the improvement from the scores compared to our earlier games. The level of competition here is very tough," said Mabwi.

Meanwhile, all the matches in Slovenia are played under a new scoring system under review from the International Volleyball Federation, including best of seven sets (as compared to the earlier best of five) with each set consisting 15 points (with atleast a two-point difference needed).

Following this loss, Kenya has now lost all her opening four engagements in this tournament against Brazil, Turkey and Bulgaria.

The team will wind up its assignments with a contest against Japan on Friday .