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

Day 4 KC Bank of Kenya and Mouloudia of Algeria complete the semifinal vacancies Cairo, Egypt, April 30, 2008- The organizers Al Ahly of Egypt beat Prisons of Kenya in what described as an early final for the 2008 Women’s African Clubs Champions Championship to lead pool A, but both teams secured before their tickets to the semifinal. In a match of qualification to semis KC Bank of Kenya clinched an important victory over Al Shams of Egypt in Pool B to secure a semifinal slot for themselves and also for Mouloudia of Algeria who achieved their third victory over Mafolofolo in the fourth day of the competition her at Abdalla Al Faysal Hall in Ahly club Cairo, Egypt on Wednesday. In another match for pool A ranking Bafia Evolution of Cameroon set their first victory over Nkumba University of Uganda in pool A. Al Ahly finished the preliminary round at the top of Pool A with 6 points ahead of Prisons who ended second with 5 points and both teams qualified to the semifinal. Mouloudia led pool B with 6 points in three matches with KC Bank and both teams confirmed semifinal vacancies to play today for the first and second positions of pool B followed by Al Shams in the third position leaving Mafolofolo and VC Canon at the bottom of the pool. The matches were attended by CAVB President Dr. Amr Elwani, Local Organizing Committee Mr. Mohamed Abdelwahab, the control committee president Mr. Baba Sy, CAVB Referee commission president Mr. Hassan Ahmed, CC member Amada Sidiyane and Referee delegate Salamba and CAVB technical director Howyda Mondy and Ahly Sports Manager Samir Abdrabou. The competition will feature two matches at the end of the preliminary round on Thursday both in Pool B as Mouloudia of Algeria meets KC Bank of Kenya while VC Canon of RD Congo plays Mafolofolo of Botswana. Al Ahly vs. Prisons Al Ahly made it and achieved a very difficult victory over the highly motivated Prisons team 3- (25-27, 25-18, 25-16, 25-19) in 99 minutes. Al Ahly improved their win- loss ratio to 3-0 to lead the pool, while Prisons dropped to 2-1 to finish the preliminary round in the second position. Al Ahly started the match as the better side through the efficient spikes of Sherihan Sameh and Esther Dusu to lead 8-6 at the first technical time out (FTT). Prisons arranged their block against Ahly attacks through Agala Khadambi and Diana Khisa to draw and then lead regularly till 22-20. Ahly coach pushed the centre Hagar Badr who did well to draw 24-24. The set went into the most thriller part till Prisons won 27-25 after successful blocks. The second set showed early Prisons lead through their motivated performance as they reached 4-2 using the disturbed Ahly defense. Al Ahly arranged their block against Prisons attack to regain the lead 8-6 at the FTT. Although Prisons used the fast attacks to Khadambi in position 3 Ahly dealt with her spikes properly till they widen the point deficit to 16-14 at the STT. Nada Mahmoud again used her strong spikes aided by Dusu to lead 22-16 when prisons coach asked for time out to adjust the defense but Ahly continued steadily to win the set 25-18. Ahly players gained the confidence and this was reflected back to their stability in defense and block so they led 8-6 at the FTT through the powerful hits of Dusu and Sherihan. Prisons came back for a while when Khadami and Lidya Maiyo did well, but again the skillful setter Yosra Abdel Karim manage the combinations well till Ahly led 16-12 at the STT. When the points deficit widen, Prisons players lost their concentration in the reception and digging to allow Ahly to win te set widely 25-16. Again the fourth set showed reception problems for Prisons and Ahly used that well to build up the attacks through Sherihan Nada and Dusu till they led 8-4 at the FTT. Ahly continued the same rhythm till they won the set 25-19 and the match 3-1. Al Shams vs. KC Bank In a match of qualification KC Bank of Kenya led by the marvelous experienced star Dorcas Ndasaba and the old middle blocker Margret Indakala succeeded to achieve a straight sets victory over Al Shams of Egypt 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-15) in 69 minutes. Although she was ill before the match Dorcas made it and scored 28 points to come as the match scorer and the best scorer in one match in the competition till now. KC Bank improved their record to 3-0, while Shams dropped to 2-2 and ended the preliminary round in the third position. KC Bank head coach Paul Bitok was happy with the performance more than the victory and said that he wants to continue the victor rhythm in the last match against Mouloudia to lead the pool and play against the second of Pool A. “Of course the second of Pool A will be better to face than the first,” Said Bitok. “I’m happy that my team came up from match to match as we are lucky to play the weaker teams first, then we play gradually the stronger teams. I’m happy also with the performance of my team captain Dorcas Ndasaba and my experienced centre Margret (46 years).” He added. Shams head coach Hesham Badrawy referred the defeat to the lack of enough training before the competition and the lack of experience of most of the players. “We are seeking now to win the fifth position which will be suitable to our capabilities.” Said Badrawy. Al Shams started the match with full concentration in attacking and blocking and succeeded to lead 8-5 at the first technical time out FTT through the efficient block of Ingy El Shami and the spikes of Dina Assal from position 4 and from the backline. With the well known hits of the Kenyan star Dorcas Ndasaba KC Bank improved the score gradually till they drew 10-10 and led 13-10 after frequent position and digging mistakes from Shams players. Edina Rotich and Dorcas again led the net action till KC Bank won the set 25-22. The second set showed early Shams leading through the block of Ingy and the spikes of Dina and Samar Ebeid to reach 8-5 before KC Bank made the same recovery through the fast attacks of Margret Indakala from position 3 and also the unstoppable spikes of Dorcas to lead for the first time 11-10 before going forwards in the same rhythm to win the set 25-20. The third set showed complete dominance for KC Bank through their well disciplined backline defense led by the efficient libero Milored Odwako and they led regularly all through the set. Although Shams head coach changed the position of the middle blocker Ingy to play as right attacker to stop the attacks of Dorcas, the Egyptian club couldn’t withstand KC Bank attacks that allowed them to win the set 25-15 and the match in straight sets. Mafolofolo vs. Mouloudia Mouloudia of Algeria clinched their third victory in a raw over Mafolofolo of Botswana 3-0 (25-15, 25-7, 25-15) in 60 minutes. The Algerian stars the setter Fatima Okazi and the spiker Nassima Benhamouda were the match stars, the first with her skillful combinations and the second with her unstoppable hits. Mouloudia improve their win- loss ratio to 3-0 and led pool B with KC Bank with 6 points. Mafolofolo dropped to 0-3. The first set showed complete dominance for the Algerian team through their skilful setter Fatima Okazi who used her combinations to deceive Mafolofolo block. Through the efficient spikes of Amel Khamtache from position 2 and Yasmine Oudni from position 4 it was easy to lead all through the set and win 25-15. The second set was one side for Mouloudia who used their service and also the bad reception and backline defense of Botswana team to lead widely till they won the set 25-7. Mafolofolo again improved their defense and this allowed them to build up the attacks through their star Dipolilo Nkele who was her team scorer with 11 points, but Mouloudia used their spiker Nassima Benhamouda to end the job quickly 25-15 and the match in straight sets. Bafia vs. Nkumba Bafia Evolution of Cameroon used their better block and defense to achieve their competition first victory over Nkumba University of Uganda 3-1 (25-11, 25-18, 21-25, 25-15) in 94 minutes. Bafia used their big gum Nana Tchoudjang who was the match scorer with 17 points to penetrate Nkumba defense regularly and to win this match that improved their record to 1-2 to end the preliminary round on the third position. Nkumba dropped to 0-3. Bafia was the better side in the first set due to their better block by Esther Mbala and Nyango Djantou and led 8-5 at the FTT. Through their efficient spikes of Nadia Ndizie and Irome Mekong Bafia continued their way to win the set easily 25-11. The second set showed more competition from Nkumba team as they improved their defense and improved the attacks through Anita Yelena and Ruiz Aketch to stay near all through the set till Bafia rebounded and won the set 25-18. The third set was the most exciting as it went point by point all through and Nkumba performance improved a lot through the solid block of Ruiz against Bafia attacks and also the spikes of Jane Nantege who was the team scorer with 14 points to win the set 25-21. Again the fourth set showed Bafia regaining their rhythm and improving their block to lead widely after a narrow point deficit till the FTT. The score showed Bafia leading 19-13 with more concentration in defense