Veronica Gwaze — Harare City were crowned champions at the inaugural Pinkoctober Volleyball Ladies Tournament hosted at Mkushi Courts at the weekend after beating rivals University of Zimbabwe 3-2.
In the nine-team race, which is set to be an annual event, Manyame Airforce and Support Unit settled for the third and fourth positions.
The Citizens, as Harare City are affectionately known, stormed into the finals without tasting defeat, and proved ruthless in the opening set as they unsettled the opponents to easily snatch the set.
Returning after the first rotation, UZ Wolves got their act together, rising to the occasion and transforming the score line into a pound-for-pound race to grab late winners in the second and third sets.
However, digging deep into their defence, the municipality side went on a rampage in the fourth set, creating a wide margin from the onset and going on to easily grab it to take the tally to 2-2.
Inevitably a decider set had to be played with champions Harare City eventually snatching it to cap the busy day with a 3-2 victory.
Harare City coach Lead-me Muhlohla paid tribute to his charges for putting up a fine show against their perennial rivals.
A fixture between the two sides over the years transformed into a much-hyped and unpredictable Harare Derby largely centred on bragging rights.
"We knew that chances are very high we would face UZ Wolves either in the semis or in the finals so as we prepared for the tournament, we had them in mind," coach Muhlohla said.
"We were aware of what our opponents wanted because last time we beat them so obviously they would come all out on us meaning we had to be in our best form."
The coach said their game plan was to attack from the onset while playing it casually in defence.
While it worked for them in the first set, he acknowledged that UZ read their game and came back a rejuvenated side.
"When they won the two sets, we had to execute our grand plan which was to have them under pressure to win a third set because we knew that pressure would lead them into a lot of unforced errors," he said.
"We took advantage of that but it was not easy because they had their complete squad and those senior players knew what they wanted.
"On the other hand, we did not have the depth, we only had 10 players because most of our players left for greener pastures so we are rebuilding.
"Looking at it closely, a part of me feels that we were lucky to win that game, I think they were the better side but experience worked for us."
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Conversely, UZ Wolves head coach Jonathan Gava feels that his side ran short of legs.
"I think physically we were not in our best form because some of our players, especially the seniors, have not been active for some time," he said.
"However, the team performed better than what we have been doing in the past games.
Coming here, we were not confident of our block and indeed it was our biggest challenge.
"In the past weeks we were working on our attack and I am happy, they did everything we practiced."
Ahead of the Harare Volleyball League games at the weekend, coach Gava said the University side will have to work on their block and defence.
