AFTER guiding his club to this year’s Carré d’As tournament success on Sunday, APR men’s volleyball club head coach Sammy Mulinge Mutemi believes the best is yet to come from his team. The six-time league champions, APR beat archrivals National University of Rwanda 3-1 to secure their fifth Carré d’As Cup. The revenge comes a week after the varsity side beat the army team 3-0 in the league playoffs final. APR was strong in the first set 25-19, NUR recovered to take the second set 25-23 but the army side controlled their game in the third and fourth sets which they won 25-23 and 27-25 respectively. And the Kenya-born trainer, who’s missed the Playoffs finals due to national engagement with Kenya’s U23 women’s team at the World Championships in Mexico said, “Not very many people expected us to win this cup but we did and I am proud of my players.” “NUR are a very strong side and I am happy we managed to beat them. We showed strong character to beat them but we will continue to work hard because we are yet to hit our peak,” he added. APR had won the league title for the last two seasons before NUR stopped them from making it three in a row. In the women category, APR continued their dominance of local volleyball after beating Rwanda Revenue Authority 3-2. The winners of Carre d’As in both genders took home Rwf200, 000 each, on top of the trophies. Runners-up, NUR and RRA got Rwf150, 000, while St Alloys and Ruhango in women and Lycee de Nyanza and INATEK (men) went home with Rwf100, 000 each for finishing third and fourth in either respective category. Meanwhile, NUR (men) and APR (women) were handed their 2012 league trophies and Rwf400, 000 each. According to the Rwanda Volleyball Federation Secretary General Christian Hatumimana, the next volleyball league will start in January 2014.
