Malkia Strikers ease past Mexico in FIVB Grand Prix

Kenya served off the second leg of the Women's FIVB Grand Prix in an impressive fashion on Friday night, registering a straight sets victory (25-25, 25-17 and 25-22) over Mexico in Algiers, Algeria.

The win, which was a third straight victory for Kenya against the Central Americans in this competition over the past year, significantly enhances Malkia Strikers' chances of securing qualification from Group 3 into the play-offs.

Kenya is seeking an improved performance in Algiers in the wake of a below par outing in Mexico during the first leg last week, which was highlighted by identical 3-0 set defeats to both Peru and Colombia.

"We have worked very hard in the past few days to correct some basic mistakes and you could see the players have taken note of what it means to play at this level. Our target here is to win all our three matches in this leg by either 3-0 or 3-1 scores, so as to stand a chance of making it to the play-offs in Australia," Kenya coach David Lung'aho said after the match.

The National Oil-sponsored team's impressive win against Mexico was watched by a sizeable Kenyan population, including Kenya's Ambassador to Algeria Moi Lemoshira.

Kenya, who are the Africa champions, will play Australia in her second match Saturday evening, before winding up with what is expected to be an explosive clash against the host nation, a repeat of the Africa Nations Nations Championship finale in Nairobi last month.

(READ: Kenya through to FIVB World Cup)

In other results from Group 3, Cuba beat Kazakhstan 3-0 (25-22, 25-16 and 25-23), Colombia claimed their third victory in four matches with a straight sets win over Peru (25-17, 25-17 and 25-23), whilst Algeria were forced to sweat before beating Australia 3-2 (25-18, 25-23, 21-25, 20-25 and 15-10).

Kenya currently lies sixth, behind Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Kazakhstan and Algeria.