Face favourites Kenya Pipelines

Quarter-final

Pipeline  vs  APR

APR’s experienced captain Dorcas Ndasaba put up a grand performance against DR. Congo’s Canon Ndijili on Wednesday night to guide the Rwandan side to the quarter-finals of the 2009 Africa Women Club Volleyball Championships being held at Kasarani Sports Complex, Nairobi.

Desperately needing a win from their final pool D tie against Canon Ndijili after a 3-1 defeat against Egypt’s Al Ahly, Rwanda’s first timers did not disappoint.

Canon won the first set 26-24 but APR got their act together to claim the next three sets 25-20, 25-18 and 25-17.

APR now have a tough quarter-final tie against seven-time record champions Kenya Pipelines.

Pipelines, who are one of the favourites in the championship, also lived up to their billing as they advanced to the crucial stage after back to back wins against Water Sports of Ethiopia and Algeria’s Bejaia.

Pipeline overcame Algeria’s Bejaia 3-1 (25-16, 25-15, 17-25, 25-22) in a Pool ‘A’ duel.

After the win, Pipeline’s coach Sylvester Kioko was quoted in the Kenyan press as saying, "For us we’re through with the preliminaries and our next target is to qualify for the semi-finals.”

Before today’s clash, APR team manager Augustin Munyandamutsa hinted that the Rwandan champions h must keep Pipeline’s experienced duo of Lucy Chege and Esther Chepkosgei quiet if they are to pull off a shock win.

"Those two are key players in the side so our players have to try and contain them,” Munyandamutsa told Times Sport by telephone from Nairobi.

Some of the other sides through to the quarter-finals include defending champions Kenya Prisons, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), and Al Ahly.

This year, the competition has attracted a record entry of 16 teams. The teams are divided into four pools. The top two teams in each pool qualify to the quarterfinals while the third and fourth ranked teams play classification games for the 9-16 positions.

Ends