Malkia Strikers too strong for Australia in Grand Prix

What you need to know:

  • Having outclassed Mexico 3-0 (25-15, 25-17 and 25-22) in the opening tie at the Salle Omnisports Hall on Friday night, the African Queens added another impressive straight sets victory of 25-20, 25-16 and 25-15 over Australia on Saturday evening.

Kenya remained on course to securing a historic play-off berth at the women's FIVB Grand Prix, by bagging successive victories in the second leg of the competition currently underway in Algiers.

Having outclassed Mexico 3-0 (25-15, 25-17 and 25-22) in the opening tie at the Salle Omnisports Hall on Friday night, the African Queens added another impressive straight sets victory of 25-20, 25-16 and 25-15 over Australia on Saturday evening.

David Lung'aho's charges, who missed the services of dependable setter Janet Wanja through illness, were yet again cheered on to victory by a sizeable Kenyan population in Algiers that included Kenya's Ambassador to the North African nation Moi Lemoshira.

"I am delighted with our recovery in the wake of how we performed in Mexico. We have worked hard in the past few days to correct some basic mistakes, then my players have taken note of what it means to play at this level. Our target here is to win all our three matches 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 told Nation Sport.

PLAY-OFFS BERTH

Kenya has now garnered eight points from five outings in this competition, and could leapfrog Algeria and Kazakhstan into fourth position in Group 3 with a victory the hosts.

This improvement in results is a turnaround from a below par outing by team Kenya in Mexico, when the National Oil-sponsored side suffered identical 3-0 set losses to Peru and Colombia, before narrowly beating Mexico in the other game in the first leg of the Grand Prix held in Mexico last week.

Kenya wind up with what is expected to be an explosive clash against the host nation on Sunday, which is a repeat of the Africa Nations Nations Championship finale in Nairobi last month.