The Togolese national women's volleyball team beat their counterparts from Niger Republic 3:2 to win their first match at the ongoing World Championship qualifiers.

The match was played at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Abuja on Tuesday.

The qualifier's first match was however a tight affair, going through five sets.

Togo won the first set 25-23, while Niger Republic controlled the second set to go on to draw level.

At the end of the third set, the Togolese were back in control after a 25-22 win, while Niger Republic held them off to win the fourth set.

The match proceeded into the fifth set where the Togolese team snatched victory with a 15-8 win.

The qualifier which started on July 23 and will end on July 26 saw only Nigeria, Niger and Togo participating after Benin Republic could not make it.

Blame it on the arena

The Togolese national women's volleyball team coach, Koffi Fiati, said a change in playing arena nearly cost his team their first match at the World Qualifier.

"Throughout our training sessions, we did not train in any indoor sports hall and this affected my players when we got here (Abuja), especially in the second and fourth sets," Fiati said.

He said even though the match ended in his team's favour, it was still not as easy as expected.

"It was a difficult game for us because we got more than we bargained for.

"We were expecting to win this match in three straight sets, but for determination, we would have lost out at the last minute.

"But, we thank God that we still won at the end of the day," the coach said.