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Day 2
Tunisia,
Algeria and Egypt to semifinal spot
 Tunis,
Tunisia, August 25, 2008- The big forces go through to
achieve the second victory as the defending champions
Egypt, the organizers Tunisia and Algeria succeeded to
take over Morocco, Cameroon and South Africa
respectively in the second day of the 2008 Men’s African
Nations Championship here at Sidi Bousaid Hall in Tunis,
Tunisia on Monday. For the second day Tunisia kept their
position at the top of the both competition pools.
Tunisia and Algeria from pool A and Egypt from pool B
secured their semifinal tickets before the match of the
third and final day of the preliminary round on Tuesday.
The competition will feature 4 matches at the end of the
preliminary round when Tunisia meets Algeria for the top
of the pool A and South Africa plays Cameroon in for the
third position, while pool B features Morocco vs.
Botswana for the second semifinal ticket and Egypt plays
Benin.
Tunisia vs. Cameroon
Tunisia swept Cameroon 3-0 (25-9, 25-17, 25-8) in the
widest point ratio in the competition till now. The
superstars Elyes Karamosly and Hamza Rezgui played a
great role in the victory with their unstoppable hits
aided by the rocket services from most of the players in
the court. Tunisia improved their Win- loss ratio in
Pool A to 2-0 to secure a semifinal slot, while Cameroon
dropped to 0-2.
Tunisia Head coach Hedi Karray was happy to have his
entire team list in high performance and ready to
introduce themselves in the competition after they
played much better than the first match against South
Africa. “My players were under stress in the first match
and now they are playing comfortably and extracting all
their abilities. I’m happy to see today this performance
from Elyes Karamosly and Hamza Rezgui.
Cameroon head coach Peter Nonnenbroich was very upset
after the match specially after the injury of his main
star David Feughoud and the lack of reserve players and
he didn’t comment after the match.
The match showed early Tunisian dominance through their
efficient block of Ahmed Khadhi and the spike service of
Hamza Rezgui. By the time Cameroon reception showed
great disturbance due to the strong Tunisian spike
service that allowed Tunisia to lead widely 8-2 at the
first technical timeout (FTT). The rest of the set was
one side to the Tunisian side with their progressive
attacking power that allowed them to win the set 25-8.
In the second set Cameroon team improved their spikes
through the hits of Jean Ntabeye and Karl Tchokouani and
maintained the draw till 5-5 when Tunisia led 8-6 at the
FTT. Tunisia again arranged the combinations led by the
efficient setter Skander Ben Manssour who arranged the
setting to Hamza Rezgui and Elyes Karamosly to lead
16-11 at the second technical timeout (STT). Again
Cameroon setter Mayam Ongolo returned his team back with
his work to Ntabeye from position 4 and also Karl to
stay near until Tunisia used all the power to win the
set 25-17.
The third set showed complete dominance for Tunisia as
it started by the razor sharp rockets of the substitute
opposite Ibrahim Besbes who scored 5 successive points
allowing his team to lead 8-2 and then the powerful
attacker Karamosly, Rezgui and Besbes maintained their
pressure against Cameroon defense to finish the job
easily 25-8.
Egypt vs. Morocco
It was the match of the day when Egypt edged Morocco
3-1 (25-19, 25-14, 15-25, 25-14) in a fantastic face of
full of exciting action that made the spectators of both
teams on their toes for 91 minutes. After Egypt went to
2-0 in the first two sets it was clear that Egypt is
going to a straight sets victory but the Morocco team
rebounded positively in the third set to win comfortably
and started the fourth set in a performance showing that
they will extend the match to tiebreak but Egypt
returned back at the middle of the set with 9 successive
spike services from the substitute Mohamed El Shemerly
to win the match 3-1.
“We depended on our centers who did well as they do a
double job scoring the points and defending the net with
their impermeable block and that was the main cause of
the victory.” Said Egypt coach Emad Nawar cheerfully
after the match.
Egypt secured the first semifinal ticket of pool B
after improving their record to 2-0 leaving morocco
struggling for the second ticket when they meet Benin on
Tuesday.
Egypt started the match with a definite strategy of
using the middle blockers for the fast spikes from
positions 3 depending on their dominance over the
Moroccan centers and succeeded to achieve the two sets
in the same sequence. Egypt passed easily through the
center of the net through Mamdouh Abdel Moneim and
Mohamed Anis who pave the way also to the left attackers
Ahmed Abdel Aal and Ahemd Dronka till they won both sets
25-19 and 25-14. After a shaky start the Egyptian block
became open in front of the Moroccan spikers specially
Mohamed Allaoui and Yousef Oughlaf and morocco won the
set 25-15.
The fourth set started point by point till Morocco led
10-8 when the Egyptian spiker Dronka was injured and
substituted by Shemerly was led his team with the spike
service to score 9 successive points that made Egypt won
the set 25-15 and the match 3-1.
Algeria vs. South Africa
Algeria downed South Africa 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-20)
in 64 minutes of thriller action. The new opposite Saif
Eddine Messalta played a great role in his team’s
victory and considered by his coach as the star of his
side in absence of some outstanding players who were
rested by the Algerian coach to save their power before
the battle against Tunisia.
“I tried to give rest to some players to keep their
power, but today I’m satisfied with the performance of
Saif
 Eddine.
He was very strong in the attacks.” Algeria head coach
El Hadj Belgacem said
On the other hand South Africa head coach Mabeka wasn’t
satisfied with the performance for the second match in
the competition. “My players didn’t give much effort to
play. I’m convinced with only one player; Julies Zenomen
who did well but still the opposite May Ethen has much
to do and we are waiting for him in the important match
against Cameroon tomorrow. The value of this team will
appear two years later when they get enough experience
and play for the senior team.” He added.
The Algerian team used their well known weapon of the
strong spike service of Billal Soualem and Abderhim
Oumessad and thus they led at the FTT 8-5. South Africa
arranged their block and defense to build up the attacks
through the strong right attacker Mat Ethen, but Algeria
increased their activity through the combinations led by
the setter Messaoud Debbih and continued to win the set
25-15.
The second set showed more concentration from South
Africa specially the center Ellerberk Warwick and the
opposite Ethen to lead 8-7 at the FTT before Algeria
rebounded to control the net through their middle
blockers to win the set 25-20.
The third set showed early South African come back
through left attackers Samy Seerah and Julies Zenomen as
they kept near till Algeria led narrowly at the FTT 8-7.
The Algerian team regained their dominance through the
work of the center Oussama Cherifi and the attacker
Oumessad to widen the point deficit to 16-11 at the STT.
Algeria went through the opposite Saif Eddine to win the
set 25-20.
Botswana vs. Benin
Benin fought for 96 minutes to defeat Botswana 3-1
(25-21, 23-25, 25-15, 25-22) in pool A. Benin improved
their record to 1-1 in 2 matches to proceed to the third
position, while Botswana dropped to 0-2.
Benin head coach, Antonnin Guedegbe was happy with the
performance of his players specially Sidik Moukaila and
Romainio Houndeladje who were the stars of the match
with their steady performance. “I’m happy with the
performance of my team in their first participation at
the international level. I think we will get a big
experience from the participation in this competition
and we can build up a good senior team from those
players.” He said.
Botswana head coach Carlos Fellove reffered the defeat
to the better fighting of the opponent team. “Benin team
was more serious to win today so their players fight
well and achieved the victory.” Said Fellove.
Benin started the match as the better side due to the
skillful setting and the efficient spikes of Arole
Vignon and the block of Raimou Moukaila and so they
proceed to win the set 25-21 in 23 minutes.
The second set showed more competition as both teams
took the lead for some time but Botswana had better
backline defense and also they were more disciplined in
the attacks so they reached to 8-5 at the FTT and 16-14
at the STT. Benin struggled to get the draw many times
until Botswana finished the situation and won the set
narrowly 25-23 to draw 1-1 in sets.
In the third set Benin regained the rhythm and
controlled the net action through the centers Raimou
Gahove and Moukaila and kept ahead all through the set
with a wide point deficit till they won the set 25-15
and lead 2-1 in sets.
The third set showed Benin maintaining their superior
performance as they were leading in the FTT 8-4 and
16-10 at the STT. The efficient spiker who was chosen by
his coach as a match star Romainio Houndeladje did a
great role with his powerful hits from all net positions
that allowed Benin to win the set 25-22.
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