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Purely Egyptian and Kenyan
Clashes in the semifinal
 Cairo,
Egypt, April 6, 2007-: The Semifinal of the twenty second
Women’s African Clubs Champions Championship became a classic
purely Egyptian Kenyan face of as two club from each country Al
Ahly and Al Shams of Egypt, and Pipelines and Kenya Commercial
Bank of Kenya secured the qualification ticket to this round
after they finished in the first and second places in each of
the two preliminary pool ended at Cairo Stadium complex hall in
Cairo, Egypt on Friday. Al Ahly took the revenge from KC Bank of
who won the final of the last competition and defeated them to
end the first round at the top of the pool and both teams
qualified to semifinal from pool B. Pipelines ended their first
round matches with a new win over Prisons of Ethiopia to lead
pool A and qualify with Al Shams of Egypt who achieved their
second victory over Injs of Cameroon.
The defending champions KC Bank will meat their Arc rivals
Pipelines in a purely Kenyan clash in the semifinal on Sunday,
while the semis will feature another purely Egyptian clash
between Ahly and Shams.
 The
match was attended by many home spectators and CAVB officials
led by Control Committee president Mrs. Fofana Aminata, CAVB
Vice President Mr. Baba Sy, CAVB representative Mr. Mory Keita,
CAVB referee delegate Mr. Mohamed Saidoune and CAVB Technical
Director Mrs. Howyda Mondy and Shams Club President Abdel Moneim
El Malah.
Al Ahly of Egypt clinched their third victory over KC Bank of
Kenya 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-22) in 74 minutes of thriller
volleyball in what was called the early final of the competition
after both teams met in the final of the last edition in
Mauritius 2006. Al Ahly used the artistry of the talent setter
Yosra Abdel Karim and the solid backline defense of the libero
Sara Talaat who were chosen by their coach as the match stars to
end the job quickly in straight sets.
Ahly began the match aggressively in attacks the artistry of the
setter Yosra Abdel Karim who led the combinations by the net
which was used by the centre Hagar Badr and the wing spiker
Noran El Maghawry to win the set 25-20. The second set was more
exciting as the Kenyan team arranged their block of Margret
Indakla Jackline Barasa to lead for the first time 8-6 by the
first technical time out. Al Ahly used the fast combinations to
the centers Hagar and Noha Mohamed to lead 16-14 before they
manage their block to end the set 25-20. In the third set Ahly
opposite attacker Esther Dusu did good job in spiking from
position 2 to allow her team to lead 8-6. The efficient spiker
Ndasaba used her hits to give her team temporary lead 12-11
before Ahly scored 5 successive points to lead again 16-12. KC
Bank coach tried to save the match by some substitutions and he
succeeded to adjust the defense to come near 21- 20 before the
highly motivated Ahly players won the set 25-22 and the match in
straight sets.
 “I
studied the Kenyan team well before the match and I knew their
strong items so my strategy was to stop their attackers by our
solid block an d to make our combination by the net,” Said Ahly
head coach Raouf Abdel Kader happily. “The strong hits of Noran
and the skillful setting of Yosra end the situation for our side
in the first two sets. I consider Sara Talaat and Yosra who
played after the yesterday’s match injury as the match stars
from my side.” He added.
KC Bank Head Coach Paul Bitok saw that all Ahly players were in
their top form and hence it is difficult to face a team with
this performance. “Our opponent didn’t depend on one attacker
like before when Tahani Tosson was playing and this disturbed my
team because they didn’t know who will spike in each attack. I
didn’t put my strategy yet for the next match against our arc
rivals Pipelines but I think we are motivated to repeat what we
did in the last years competition when we defeated them and in
the semifinal before gaining the trophy.
Pipelines of Kenya continued their victory rhythm and achieved
the third win over Prisons of Ethiopia 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-16)
in 51 minutes to raise their win- loss ratio to 3-0 and lead
preliminary pool A with six point and qualify as usual to the
semifinal of the competition for the sixth year in a raw. The
Kenyan head coach squaded his main line up with all the senior
experience players like Esther Jepkosgei, Catherine Wanjiru and
Leonidas Kamende so these players used they talent attacks and
won the first set easily 25-15 in 15 minutes. The second set
showed improvement in the Prisons block against the strong hits
from Pipelines through the middle blocker Petros Genet so they
extend the set to 19 minutes as Pipelines won also 25-18 after a
group of efficient spikes from the match scorer with 15 points
Catherine Wanjiru and the emerging star Agibel Tarus. In the
third set prisons player struggled to save the match and
improved their attacks through Dessie Rahel and Kebede Fanu. In
the same time Pipelines coach used some substitutes from the
bench to give them the chance to play in the first round before
going to the more important part of the competition. Although
the Ethiopian team tried to stop the attacks through improving
their defense they couldn’t do that in front of Pipelines
rockets and lost the set 25-16 and the match in straight sets.
 Pipelines
Head Coach David Lung’aho was very happy to end the first round
without conceding a set and expressed his satisfaction with his
team’s performance specially his emerging star Tarus. “We are
now waiting for our opponent in the semifinal which is the most
important part of the competition. I intended today to use many
players from the bench to give them the sensitivity of the match
before the critical stage.” He said.
Prisons Head coach Teshome Lemma was very happy with the
performance and fighting spirit of his players although he lost
in straight sets. He said that his team played that match better
than when they achieved their victory over Injs of Cameroon
because they have become more familiar with these big
competitions. “I think we have become now more prepared for such
competition and we have to think of competing for the crown in
the coming competition.” Said the Ethiopian coach.
El Shams of Egypt was the last qualifier to the semifinal after
their 3-0 victory (25-15, 25-13, 25-22) in their match against
Injs of Cameroon. The victory raised the win- loss ratio of
Shams to 2-1 to be in the second position of pool A with 5
points while Injs ended the competition at the bottom of the
pool with three defeats.
 Shams
team used the high performance of the middle locker Ingy El
Shamy and the strong wing spiker Dina Assal to start the first
set aggressively and won 25-15. In the second set Injs improved
their block against Shams attack and had the first and last lead
in the match 8-6 by the first technical time out after a good
performance from the team star Christine Ambassa. Then shams
players regained their rhythm to penetrate through the wing
spiker and won the set comfortably 25-13. In the third set Shams
coach used some of the bench player to give them the experience
and so the score became close all through the set and shams won
25-22 to qualify for the first time in history to the semifinal
of the competition.
Shams Head coach Hamdy El Shamy considered the game as an easy
match so he considered that his players didn’t do their best
because they wanted to save their energy to the strong semifinal
confrontation against Ahly. “I participated in this match with
all the players in the list to give them the experience and to
relief the standing players to the semifinal. Ahly is a very
good team but we know how to face them like we did in the
Egyptian league when we lost narrowly after a tie breaker.” He
said.
“We suffered in this competition because we missed two of our
main players and I was obligated to use my main setter Gamkoua
Asta as a spiker because of this shortage and this decreased
consequently the coordination between the setter and our star
Ambassa.” Said Injs coavch Armand Nyatcho.
 The
black horses of the last competition Mafolofolo of Botswana set
their competition first victory over Water sports of Ethiopia in
straight sets 25-23, 25-18, 25-20 in 66 minutes. The team that
qualified to the semifinal in 2006 ended their matches in pool B
in the third position and eliminated for the competition with a
win – loss ratio of 1-2 leaving Water sports at the bottom of
the pool with three defeats. The first set of this match was
most exciting in this competition as both teams went point by
point till Mafolofolo ended the set 25-23 in 20 minutes after a
group of successful hits from the match scorer Dipolelo Nkele
who scored 20 points. The second set was the longest as there
were more rallies from both teams due to the good reception and
digging from both teams in the backline which gave the game more
interest. Nkele and Tshepo Serwe led Mafolofolo to win the set
25-18. the third set went the same but after more resistance
from Water sports led by the match scorer Addis Yodit who scored
25 points after 22 minutes 25-20.
Mafolofolo head coach Keotsene Odisitse was satisfied with the
results and performance of his team in the competition generally
and in the match against Water sports specially and said that
his team still learning from such competition with the young
players involved in the championship. He promised to improve and
compete next year.
Water sports Head coach Ebrahim Seiman also happy to participate
in this competition after the Ethiopian women teams were absent
for a long time from the continental competitions.
Photo Caption:
Ahly Triple block against KC Bank
Ahly vs. KC Bank
Sherihan spiking against KCB
Pipelines vs. Prisons
Shams vs. Injs
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