Thursday
Rwanda v Lesotho 1PM Kigali Time
Rwanda women’s volleyball team left attacker Olive Nzamukosha admits Kenya were tough to beat in the opening game of the Women’s African Volleyball championship on Wednesday but she insists her team can quickly come back to winning ways against Lesotho on Thursday.
Paulo de Traso’s ladies endured a slow start to the continental volleyball competition after Kenya beat them 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-17) in Wednesday’s opening game held at Yaoundé Multipurpose Sports Complex in Cameroon.
It was a familiar match-up with both sides having played a buildup match on Tuesday, August 15, with Kenya also winning 3-0. And the opener was very much a copy of a friendly match with the Malkia Strikers showing class during the game.
The Kenyans were without influential opposite hitter Sharon Chepchumba who missed the game due to injury.
However, even in her absence, they stormed past De Tarso’s side to claim an easy straight-set win to start their group stages in Pool B in style.
Despite a shaky second set that saw Rwanda’s strong serves trouble the Kenyan opponent, the Kenyans were trailing on several occasions but recovered in true fashion of a champion to take the match.
"Kenya is a very tough side due to their experience in international competitions. So it was easy for them to approach us. We fought but we failed to maintain our pace,” Nzamukosha told Times Sport after the game.
It wasn’t a better way to begin the campaign but Nzamukosha is confident she and her teammates can get the job done against Lesotho on Thursday, at the same venue, to keep their hopes of progressing to the knockout stages.
Prior to the game, she said, "the match against Lesotho is a different scenario and we will approach the match a little bit differently. We are looking forward to winning the second match. So we expect to change our approach and win the game."
Captain Valentine Munezero called for her teammates to give their best against Lesotho so they can register their first three points.
"We will aim for victory against Lesotho, they seemed to lack pace in the first match and we must be ready for them. It is big game and we now need to take every game as final because we want to reach in the quarterfinals,” Munezero admitted
Kenya, Morocco and Uganda have all got three points in Group B while Rwanda, Burkina Faso and Lesotho have lost respectively.
Morocco beat Burkina Faso 3-0 (25-18, 25-11 and 25-07) while Uganda also beat Lesotho 3-0 (25-10, 25-05 and 25-10).
Elsewhere in Group A, Nigeria beat Mali 3-0 (25-18, 25-14 and 25-20) while Egypt thrashed Algeria 3-0.
After Thursday’s game against Lesotho, De Tarso’s side will face Burkina Faso on Friday before locking horns with neighbors Uganda on Saturday. They will wind up their group stage matches against Morocco on Sunday.
A total of 12 teams are in Cameroon for the tournament. They include hosts Cameroon, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Egypt, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda.
The tournament was initially expected to attract 17 teams but five teams pulled out at the last minute.
The Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon will be looking to defend the trophy they won in Kigali in 2021 after beating Kenya in the final 3-1 sets (25-21, 25-23, 15 -25 and 25-23).