Upper Hill, Olympic Mixed storm quarters

Favourites Upper Hill and Olympic Mixed on Friday advanced to the quarter-finals of the Airtel Rising Stars Nairobi Region Secondary Schools Term Two B Games at Lenana School.

The two won their second preliminary football matches on the second day of action to seal their places in Saturday's last eight encounters.

In boys' football, Upper Hill beat Moi Forces Academy (MFA) 4-0 in their Pool A encounter. Goals from John Odira, Washington Odoyo, Finly Osoro and Kevin Oduor fired Upper Hill to the emphatic win.

Upper Hill had beaten Baba Dogo Mixed Secondary School 3-0 in their first match on Thursday afternoon and Friday's win moved them to six points with one match to go.

Upper Hill coach Joseph Makokha lauded his charges for their good start to the competition.

"Our first target was to secure qualification to the quarters and we did that convincingly. The next stage will be tough but we are up to the challenge," the coach told Saturday Nation Sport.

Upper Hill are bidding to return to the National Games after a three-year absence.

They lifted the national title in 2013 but missed out on the 2014, 2015 and 2016 editions after falling at the regional level.

Last year's finalists Olympic Mixed got off to a false start as they went down 1-0 to Our Lady of Fatima in their Pool B encounter. Erick Owiti's second half header gave Our Lady the three points. In Pool C, Brown Hill beat Pumwani 2-1 while in Pool D Dandora were 1-0 winners over St Justino.

In girls' matches, champions Olympic also cruised into the knockout stages with a match to spare. The 2013 national champions thrashed Mount Laverna and Baba Dogo 7-0 each in their opening Pool A encounters.

Against Baba Dogo, Manyala Akoth grabbed a hat-trick while Mwangi Wairimu scored twice in the lop-sided encounter. Drailer Salome and Dora Achieng also got their names on the score sheet with a goal each.

"I think the real competition will be in the next round and we believe we have the players to go all the way," Olympic coach Maurice Okumu said.

Also through to the last eight is State House Girls, who beat Peter Kibukosya 3-0 in a Pool D encounter. Natty Wanjiru scored twice with Doris Auma adding the other.

In volleyball, boys' and girls' champions Hospital Hill and Soweto Academy also got off to winning starts.

Hospital Hill beat Our Lady of Fatima 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-13) in their opening match while Soweto were also straight sets winners of 25-3, 25-5 and 25-9 over Mount Laverna.

Racquet games get underway on Saturday at Nairobi Club and Lenana School. Winners in the various disciplines will represent the region at next month's National Term Two B Games in Nyeri.