Nairobi — Kenya Prisons almost dropped the pot at the doorstep, but they recovered to beat defending champions General Service Unit (GSU) three sets to two to clinch the men's national volleyball league title.
The Warders were leading two sets to nil against GSU and were comfortably cruising, but a series of errors saw the former champions claw back two sets to force the game into its full length.
Prisons had won the first two sets 25-20 and 25-22 before GSU rallied to win the third 25-22 and the fourth 30-28.
However, Prisons regained their composure to win the tie breaker 15-10 and clinch the title for the first time in seven years.
"It means a lot for us. We have stayed for seven years without a title and we are delighted. We have been here for only three weeks and we changed some things to ensure we won the trophy. We just brought the players together and that is how we managed to win," assistant coach Saul 'Omunyange' Wafula, himself a former Prisons player, said after the match.
Having won the first two matches, Prisons were one step away from the trophy. But, they didn't have a good start with GSU's Joshua Kimaru's strong serves winning them three consecutive points to take them 6-2 up prompting a time out from Prisons.
They managed to steady the ship, but the tie was far from tilting to their end, with GSU ensuring the scores were close. They finally pulled away after some series of good blocks, to win the set 25-20.
The second was more or less the same, with Prisons quite efficient on net defense, managing to keep out most of the strong GSU hits.
The third set however brought them back to earth. They trailed by three points at 17-14 and called for a time out. They managed to rally back with skipper Hudson Chesoli and Kelvin Maiyo doing the work on the blocks to take the scores to 21-21.
But, the GSU rally was too strong as they managed to see off the set 25-22.
In the fourth, Prisons were up for the task, but GSU had more belief from the word go. They never gave up, despite knowing the best they could do was second and the title was already gone. They managed to go toe to toe, with GSU finally tying the game at 2-2, with a 30-28 win.
But the Warders were furious with themselves, for letting what looked like a well wound game evade their grasp. They reduced their mistakes in the tie breaker, and ensured they had a good gap to win it 15-10 at the end.
