Near-perfect Kwanthanze clinch volleyball crown

What you need to know:

  • Kwanthanze triumphed 25-22, 25-22 and 25-19 to seal a fourth regional title, silencing the home side who were backed by a huge partisan crowd. The result saw the Kenyan champions exact revenge on their opponents, who beat them in the 2015 final in Huye, Rwanda.

IN MUSANZE, RWANDA

Brookside East Africa Secondary School girls’ volleyball champions Kwanthanze on Saturday successfully retained their crown after an impressive 3-0 win over home side GS Indagaburezi in the final at MIPC grounds here.

Kwanthanze triumphed 25-22, 25-22 and 25-19 to seal a fourth regional title, silencing the home side who were backed by a huge partisan crowd. The result saw the Kenyan champions exact revenge on their opponents, who beat them in the 2015 final in Huye, Rwanda.

It was a vintage performance from the Kenyans, who appeared to save the best for last, with not so brilliant performances in their previous matches.

Kwanthanze coach Justin Kigwari was a pleased man as his charges sealed the double following their triumph at the national level last month.

“Today we showed the real Kwanthanze. Strong on our attacks, blocks and service which the opposition failed to deal with. We imposed ourselves early on and they struggled to contain us,” Kigwari said.

“Indagaburezi gave us a good match and I thank them for being formidable opponents but I think in the end we were just too good for them and wanted it more,” the tactician added.

Kwanthanze are now two titles behind compatriots Lugulu Girls, who hold the record for most wins in East Africa with six cups. Kwanthanze, who needed five sets to overcome Cheptil in the semis, started brightly and would race into a 7-2 lead before the first technical time out was called.

The hosts would claw themselves back to reduce the deficit to 15-12 at the time second technical time out was called. However, Kwanthanze increased their tally led by skipper Gladys Ekaru to comfortably see off the first set.

Indagaburezi would start the second start brightly but were undone by poor serving allowing Kwanthanze to make ground following a 9-3 lead. Once the Kenyans drew level, they would leave their opponents in their wake as they made it 2-0.

The last set was comfortable for the Kenyans with the Rwandese support fading as they sensed that their side could not recover from the remarkable display from their opponents. The home side will now need to wait longer to clinch a third title following their triumphs in 2010 and 2015.

Cheptil secured bronze for the second year running after they saw off another Rwandese side IPRC Kigali 25-17, 25-17, 25-13 in the play-off match. Kenya’s third side in the competition, Soweto Academy failed to go past the preliminary stage.