2008 Women’s African Clubs Champions Championship- Cairo, Egypt

Day 3 Prisons of Kenya and Ahly of Egypt secured semifinal tickets Cairo, Egypt, April 29, 2008- The organizers Al Ahly of Egypt and the big favorites Prisons of Kenya become the first teams to secure a semifinal ticket in the 2008 Women’s African Clubs Champions Championship after both achieved their second victory in raw in pool A over Bafia Evolution of Cameroon and Nkumba University of Uganda respectively in the competition third day here at Abdalla Al Faysal Hall in Ahly club Cairo, Egypt on Tuesday. KC Bank of Kenya achieved their competition second victory over Mafolofolo of Botswana while Al Shams of Egypt continued their winning rhythm and set their second victory over VC Canon of RD Congo. Al Ahly and Prisons led pool A with 4 points with 2-0 record and they meet together on Wednesday competing for the first and second positions after both qualified to the semifinal, leaving both Bafia and Nkumba at the bottom of the pool and competing for the other ranking positions. Al Shams led pool B with 5 points in 3 matches from 2-1 record followed by both KC Bank and Mouloudia of Algeria both 4 points from 2-0 record, then Mafolofolo and VC Canon still searching a victory. The matches were attended by CAVB President Dr. Amr Elwani, Local Organizing Committee Mr. Mohamed Abdelwahab, the control committee president Mr. Baba Sy, CC member Amada Sidiyane and referee delegate Salamba and CAVB technical director Howyda Mondy and Ahly Sports Manager Samir Abdrabou. The competition will feature four matches on Wednesday as Ahly of Egypt meets Prisons of Kenya for the first and second positions and Bafia plays Nkumba University of Uganda for the third and fourth positions of pool A. KC Bank of Kenya plays Al Shams of Egypt in a critical match in pool B while Mafolofolo of Botswana meets VC Canon of RD Congo. Al Ahly vs. Bafia Al Ahly of Egypt achieved their second victory in a raw over Bafia Evolution of Cameroon 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-11) in minutes. Al Ahly improved their record to 2-0 to lead pool A with prisons, while Bafia dropped to 0-2. With their solid block of Noha Mahmoud and Mona Adly and the efficient attacks of the Nigerian professional player Esther Dusu, it was easy for Ahly to win against a less experienced team. Al Ahly started the match aggressively and used the efficient spikes of the Nigerian right attacker Esther Dusu and the skilful combinations led by the setter Yosra Abdel Karim to lead all through till they won the set 25-17. The second set showed more activity by the two sisters Sherihan and Nahla Sameh in Position 4 and this allowed Ahly to lead 8-5. Again the middle blockers Mona Adly and Noha Mahmoud did well in blocking to allow Ahly to win the set 25-15. The third set showed early Bafia lead through efficient spiker Iroume Mekong and the combinations of the setter Bissene Baran to lead 5-4 and continued the same rhythm until the first technical time out where they ended narrowly 8-7. Al Ahly regained the rhythm and improved their block to win the set widely 25-11 Prisons vs. Nkumba Prisons of Kenya needed only 51 minutes to clinch an easy victory over Nkumba University of Uganda 3-0 (25-10, 25-6, 25-6) in the competition widest score till now. Prisons improve their win loss ratio to 2-0 to secure a semifinal berth, while Nkumba dropped to 0-2. Prisons led the match all through using the experience middle blocker Agala Khabambi who was the match scorer with 13 points. For the second match in a raw the efficient spiker Diana Khisa played a great role in her team’s victory specially in the third set. Although the local season ion Kenya just started early this month, the reigning Kenyan champions Prisons appeared in a physically fit performance that made the head coach David Lungaho optimistic to retain the cup for Kenya. KC Bank vs. Mafolofolo KC Bank of Kenya improved a lot than their first match and pulled of a respectful victory over Mafolofolo of Botswana 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-20) in 62 minutes. After poor performance in the first match KC Bank team captain Dorcas Ndasaba played a great role in this victory through her well known efficient spikes and came as the match scorer with 15 points. Jackline Baraza played also a great role in the match with her great experience and scored 10 crucial points. KC Bank improved their win- loss ratio to 2-0, while Mafolofolo dropped to 0-2. From the start of the match KC Bank led all the net action through the centre Barasa and also the efficient spikes of Ndasaba and succeded to end the first set to their side 25-14 easily. Mafolofolo improved their block of Retshabilke and Dipolelo Nkele at the beginning of the second set but again the Kenyan team took over the leadership to win the set 25-16 through the strong hits of Doris Palanga. The third set showed more improvement in Mafolofolo block and also they improved the attacks, but finally with the efforts of Ndasaba and Margaret Indakala, KC Bank won the set 25-20 and the match in straight sets. KC Bank head coach Paul Bitok was happy to see his team improving than the first match. “We played much better today due to the good performance of our team captain Ndasaba. Today I’m happy also with the performance of the right attacker Doris Palabga.” He said. VC Canon vs. Al Shams Al Shams of Egypt continued their victory rhythm and achieved a 3-1 (25-11, 25-15, 26-28, 25-11) over VC Canon of RD Congo in 81 minutes of exciting action from the promising Canon team who were competitive in many times of the match. Al Shams experienced National tem star led her team not only by her 18 points scored and coming as match scorer but also through her solid block specially in the critical time of the match. Al Shams improved their win- loss ratio to 2-1 to lead pool B with 5 points. VC Canon dropped 0-3. Al Shams superstars appeared in a good performance at the beginning of the match with the efficient spikes of Samar Ebeid and Dina Assal and succeeded to penetrate the block of VC Canon all through to win the set 25-11. Canon improved their block through the center Ekofo Moyinza and left attacker Inoku Bofeyi to lead several times but finally Shams controlled the net action through the experienced middle blocker Ingy El Shami to win the set 25-15. The third set was the most exciting in the match as Shams started in the same style to lead 8-5 at the FTT and continued using the fast attacks of Ingy to reach to 16-13 at the STT. Suddenly Canon players did their best improving their back line defense and using the Block of Moyinza and Moza Osako to decrease the point’s deficit gradually till they draw 24-24 and they used the frequent mistakes of Shams players to win the set 28-26. Shams regained the rhythm and improved the reception and backline defense to build up the attacks successfully using the star Ingy who led her team to a comfortable victory 25-11 in the set and the match 3-1.