Sammy Kitula
12 September 2008
Nairobi — Kenya's hopes of making it to next year's World Junior Volleyball Championships in Mexico City hit a dead end after they crushed 3-1 to Tunisia at the end of Africa Junior Women's Championships in Kasarani on Friday.
"We did it," was all the Tunisian coach, Chebbi Rached could say after the match.
Tunisia won in sets of 25-13, 22-25, 25-14, 25-22.
Although Kenya's Everlyne Makuto pounded a couple of early winners through the Tunisian block on the left, the hosts couldn't contain the marauding Tunisians who snatched a 6-1 lead to prompt a time out from the Kenyan bench.
Things weren't surely going the Kenyans' way as they reached the first technical time out trailing at 3-8.
The outstanding Agrebi Rahma, a great prospect for the side, steadied the Tunisian ship with some crunching blocks of her own, but she was then rejected by a pumped up Makuto when they went head to head down the middle.
The attacking trio of Makuto, Ndiema Chemutai and Brendah Kamamos was too blunt and Cherif Nouha was showing the hosts how things are done with electric strikes and magnificent blocks that could only leave the Kenyans imagining what had hit them.
Trailing 4-11, Kenya took their second time out, but they still could not work out how to stop the flow of attacks from the surging Tunisian team.
The North Africans stood 16-5 at the second technical time out. As the Kenyans stretched for their shots, attack errors followed and their opponents wrapped up the opening frame 25-13.
On resumption for the second set, Kenya had one resolution, taking an early lead. And truly they did.
The Tunisian team was on the receiving end as they trailed 4-2 within the first minutes of the set.
This didn't go down well with coach, Chebbi Rached who called for a timeout. It made little difference as they scored only five points while conceding four, to stand at 8-7 at the first technical timeout.
Makuto was inspiring in ensuring the Kenyan lead, but a sequence of blunders at Kenyan centre helped the visitors reduce the difference to 11-10.
Despite the scare, Kenyans managed to hold to a 16-12 advantage at the second technical time out.
Rose Magoi was superb in her setting and Kamamos didn't disappoint as she showered the Tunisians with thunderbolt strikes. Suddenly, Kenyans had got back their rhythm as they made it one-set all, with a 25-22 win.
In the third set, Tunisia cranked up the power with some sharply angled spikes into the feet of the Kenyan defenders, that forced the Kenyan technical bench to call for a time out trailing 5-1.
Instead of utilising the chance to correct their mistakes, on the contrary, it was Tunisia who capitalised on Kenya's lapses to take a 8-1 lead at the first technical timeout.
The hard-hitting Makuto reduced the gap with a towering winner from the left, but was then blocked by the spring-heeled Rahma on the opposite flank.
Again, attack errors under no pressure cost Kenya points as they seemed to run out of steam allowing the agile Tunisians to a 16-8 second technical time out lead.
With the urgency of having the match done with, Tunisia introduced hard-hitting Sassi Nadia for Ben Youssef Sonia, who never faltered as she helped her side to a 25-14.
Kenya looked in a hurry to claim the set and strung together a series of quick points as their opponent's fire flickered on and off, taking a 8-5 lead by the first technical time out.
They maintained the lead at the second technical time out, 16-12. But all the laughs went the Tunisian way as they won the set and consequently the match, 25-22.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
