Prisons, Pipeline stay in hunt for African honours

Kenya Prisons and Pipeline are out to maintain their winning ways when the 2014 CAVB African Women’s Club Championships enters quarter-finals in Carthage, Tunisia.

The two Kenyan clubs qualified in style after they won all their preliminary matches to top respective pools with maximum points.

Defending champions and Pool B leaders Prisons face Sfaxien of Tunisia, who finished runners-up in Pool C. The Kenyan champions, who won the title in 2008 before back-to-back success in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and 2013 are seeking their sixth Cup success.

Pipeline, who topped Pool D, have a date with Injis of Cameroon who were placed second in Pool A. Pipeline, who won the continental diadem last in 2005, are eying their fifth title.

STRONGEST OPPOSITION

In other Cup quarters, hosts and Pool “A” winner Carthage face Forces Armee Police (FAP) of Cameroon while last year’s losing finalists GS Petroliers of Algeria who topped Pool C clash with Elshams of Egypt who were runners-up Pool B.

Prisons outclassed the Algerian champions GS Petroliers in 3-2 sets in the pulsating final at the Palais de Sport Hall, Antananarivo, Madagascar last year.

Pipeline romped into the quarters in style by dismissing one of the pre-tournament favourites Forces Armee Police (FAP) of Cameroon 3-0 of 25-21, 25-20 and 25-17 in group D qualifiers.

Pipeline’s head coach Japheth Munala acknowledged that FAP provided the strongest opposition of all the teams at the group stage.

“Volleyball in Cameroon has greatly improved and going by the trend, the conventional volleyball giants have to go back to the drawing board to remain at the top. The girls have the height, the fire-power, tenacity and zeal required,” Munala said.

Pipeline manager Kasujaa Onyonyi confirmed that about four players who did the duty for the national team that qualified for the World Cup, played for FAP against Pipeline.

“It took the experience of international setter Janet Wanja, the hard hits of Violet Makuto, Esther Wangeci and Ruth Jepleting and the agility of attacker turned libero Agripina Kundu for Pipeline to turn tables on FAP who had docked the first technical time-out at 8-4,” Kasujaa wrote in a match report yesterday.

By the second technical time-out, Pipeline led by a narrow margin of 16-17 before soaring above the West Africans to finish the set at 25-22.

The second set saw the settled oil merchants take the lead at two technical time-outs with ease to finish the rally at 25-20.

“Tricky services by Leonida Kasaya and Janet Wanja did the trick for Japheth Munala’s charges,” said Kasujaa.

Cheered by their nemesis Prisons, Pipeline stamped their authority over the heavily built West Africans by registering a 25-17 victory in the third set to seal the match on 3-0 basis.

“They are strong. Good reception and firm blocks is what a team needs to tame them,” said Pipeline captain Jepleting.

Prisons head coach David Lungaho heartily congratulated Pipeline for sailing into the quarter-finals.

“We are proud of our sister team to have surmounted the stiff challenge mounted by the three other teams that were in the group to emerge top of the group into the quarterfinals,” said Lungaho. Favourite teams won their final group matches to advance to the quarters.

THIRD VICTORY

In Pool A, Carthage set the third victory in row against Injis 3-1 (25-19, 25-16, 21-25, 25-15) to finish the first round with a clean sheet to lead the pool.

Nkumba University (Uganda) achieved their first victory against Water Sports (Ethiopia) 3-1 (26-24, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18) to finish third in the pool and play with the Ethiopian team in the 9 to 16 positions. In Pool B, Prisons beat Shams (Egypt) 3-1 (24-26, 25-17, 25-16, 25-23) in a fight for the pool leaders.

With the win Prisons improved to 3-0, while Shams dropped to 2-1 and both teams joined the quarters. Bafia (Cameroon) flew past Bejaia (Algeria) 3-1 (6-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-18) to finish third in the pool.

In Pool C, Petroliers (Algeria) maintained their victory rhythm and set the third win against Ndeje University (Uganda) in straight sets (25-11, 25-11, 25-17) to lead the Pool with a 3-0 record while the Ugandans dropped to 1-2.

Sfax overwhelmed Manga Sport (Gabon) 3-0 (25-16, 25-10, 25-18) to confirm a second round ticket with 2-1, while Manga dropped to 0-3 to finish fourth in the pool.

In Pool D Pipeline matched towards the third win over FAP 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-17) to lead the Pool with 3-0 record and were joined by the Cameroonian team (2-1).

Chlef (Algeria) beat APR (Rwanda) 3-0 (25-23, 25-12, 25-10) to improve to 1-2 in the third place followed by APR at the bottom of the pool (0-3).

Quarterfinals pairing

Carthage (Tun) v FAP (Cam)

Pipeline (Ken) v Injis (Cam)

Prisons (Ken) v Sfax (Tun)

GSP (Alg) v Shams (Egy)