Nairobi News

Kenyan clubs posted mixed returns on the first day of the Men’s African Club Championship at the Olympic Hall in Sousse, Tunisia on Saturday.

Kenya Prisons won the mental battle against Kampala Amateur Volleyball Club (KAVC) in the first set, enroute to a straight sets victory of 29-27, 25-13 and 25-15 scores in both teams opening match of the competition.

This tie was, however, more or less decided in the opening set as Prisons battled hard but failed to open a gap on the debutants.

The scores were at some point tied at 20-20, 24-24 and 26-26 before Silas Makiso masterminded the two point victory at the death.

KAVC never recovered from that set back, allowing Gideon Chenje’s team to easily win in the consequent sets by a 12 and 10 point margin.

WRONG START

The wardens however followed up this result with a 3-2 sets loss to Algeria’s Etoile Setif at the same venue last evening.

The team now requires to win their matches against Zimbabwean club Support Unit, Ahly Ghazi (Libya) and Somoha (Egypt) to stand a chance of playing in the quarter finals.

Meanwhile, the other Kenyan club General Service Unit got off to a wrong start by losing 3-0 to the competition’s record holders Al Ahly of Egypt.

“We have to address this fear factor whenever we play against the North Africans> That is our main problem,” team captain Ben Musumba told Nairobi News.

Gideon Tarus’ side failed to accumulate a 20-point in all the three sets, instead settling for an identical 14 points in the opening two sets and an improved 17 in the final set.

GSU has ties against Bourj Bouaririj (Algeria), APR (Rwanda) Espoir (Cote d’ Ivoire) and Nemo Stars (Uganda) lined up in Group C.

Selected results:

Pool A

ESS (TUN) v Autoridede (MOZ) 3-0 (25-14, 25-10, 25-17)

Ittihad Tangier (MAR) v Daim Hamad (SUD) 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-16)

Douanes (BUR) v Atletico (CPV) 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-12, 24-26, 15-7)

Pool B

FAR (MAR) v Swehly (LIB) 3-2 (19-25, 25-14, 25-15, 18-25, 15-13)

Zamalek (EGY) v Esperance (TUN) 3-1 (25-21, 15-21, 25-22, 25-20)

FAP (CMR) v Nahda (SUD) 3-0 (25-10, 25-14, 25-20)

Pool C

Ahly (EGY) v GSU (KEN) 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-17)

Bourj Bouaririj (ALG) v APR (RWA) 3-0 (25-10, 25-13, 25-14)

Espoir (COD) v Nemo Star (UGA) 3-1 (25-18,19-25, 25-19, 25-23)

Pool D

Setif (ALG) v Support Unit (ZIM) 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-12)

Somoha (EGY) v Ahly Beni Ghazi (LIB) 3-1 (25-22, 20-25, 29-27, 25-23)

Prisons (KEN) v Kampala (UGA) 3-0 (29-27, 25-13, 25-15)