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

Semifinal Mouloudia of Algeria and Prisons of Kenya to final spot Cairo, Egypt, May 2, 2008- In two big marathons the surprising Mouloudia of Algeria and the reigning Kenya champions Prisons qualified to the final spot of the 2008 Women’s African Clubs Champions Championship following their thriller victories in the semifinal over the organizing team Al Ahly of Egypt and KC bank of Kenya respectively after 4 hours of exciting volleyball action that made more than 3000 attending spectators on their toes her at Abdalla Al Faysal Hall in Ahly club Cairo, Egypt on Friday. The two semifinals matches were the best in the competition till now specially the Kenyan derby which ended a marvelous five sets match while Mouloudia surprised all the home crowd with a fully professional performance to defeat the defending champions in another dramatic semifinal. In the play off of the 5-8 positions Bafia of Cameroon defeated VC Canon of RD Congo, while Al Shams of Egytp swept Nkumba university of Uganda. Mouloudia of Algeria will meet prisons of Kenya in the competition final on Sunday which will be preceded by the Bronze medal match between KC Bank of Kenya and Al Ahly of Egypt. The competition will feature also the two ranking matches on Saturday as Shams of Egypt meets Bafia of Cameroon for the 5th sand 6th positions, while Nkumba University of Uganda plays VC Canon of RD Congo for the 7th and 8th positions. 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 with most of Ahly board members. Semifinal 1-4 Al Ahly vs. Mouloudia Mouloudia of Algeria qualified to the final following their victory over Al Ahly of Egypt 3-2 (25-13, 23-25, 18-25, 25-14, 15-12) in 113 minutes in front of more than 3000 home crowd. The Algerian superstars Fatima Okazi and the middle blocker Nassima Benhamouda were that match stars the first with her perfect setting and leadership all over the match and the second with her impressive 25 points scored that put her as the match scorer. Mouloudia started the match very concentrating in reception and defense. The middle blocker Nassima Benhamouda did well in blocking and also in the fast attacks using the skillful sets by Fatima Okazi and thus Mouloudia led 8-3 at the first technical timeout. As the reception and digging of Ahly was very bad, Mouloudia continued leading steadly with the efficient spikes of the opposite Amel khamtachi to win the set widely 25-13. The second set was completely different as Ahly reception improved and also the block improved through the participation of the efficient center Hagar Badr to lead 8-4 at the FTT. Again the opposite Esther Dusu did well in spiking from both the front and backlines to continue leading 13-8. Mouloudia regained their rhythm through the efficient block of Nassima and Dalel Draa to decrease the point deficit to 13-11 before Ahly coach made some substitutions to adjust his defense and reach to 16-13 at the STT. Mouloudia continued their high spirit action to draw for the first time 20-20. Al Ahly led by the setter Yosra Abdel Karim succeeded to win the set narrowly 25-23. The third set showed more concentration from Ahly in the defense and that allowed them to build up the attacks by the net. Hagar did well in the fast spikes from position 3 and also Sherihan from position 4 to allow Ahly to lead regularly till they won the set 25-18. Mouloudia led completely in the fourth set due to the arranged block by Dalel and Nassima till they led 8-1. Ahly tried to come back through the spikes of Dusu from position 2 and Hagar in position 3 so they decresed the point deficit gradually till they 12-6, but again Mouloudia through the unstoppable hits of Nassima and Yassmine led 16-6 at the STT. Nassima made the net very dark in front of Ahly attackers and scored many points for her team from the block and thus it was easy for Mouloudia to win the set widely 25-14 to extend the match to tiebreak KC Bank vs. Prisons In a purely Kenyan clash showing a world class match the reigning Kenyan champions Prisons had a very difficult victory over their compatriot KC Bank of Kenya in a thriller five setter 3-2 (27-25, 21-25, 13-25, 13-25, 17-15) in 113 minutes of exciting action. Prisons qualified to the final to meet Al Ahly for the second time in this competition, while KC Bank plays for the bronze medal against Mouloudia of Algeria. The middle blocker Agala Khadambi of prisons was the match star with KC Bank attacker Dorcas Ndasaba who was also the match scorer with impressive 23 poiunts she scored. KC bank struggled after losing 2 sets to rebound and win two sets that made the match more exciting till Prisons came on time winning all the critical points and the long match 3-2. Proisons coach David Lungaho was very cheered with the victory specially because he has most of the team under 18 years.” It was difficult for out team to play a long match with the 6 main players because most of the substitutes lack the experience.” Said Lungaho. “My players lost their concentration after winning the first two sets and that made them fall into reception mistakes. I want also to congratulate KC Bank for their superior performance.” He added. KC Bank coach was very sad to lose a match in hands of his team and he stated that the injury of his opposite Doris Palanga made all the concentration of the opponent on Dorcas to increase the load on her the entire match. “We were in a tough pool in the first round and also we didn’t have a rest day after the first round specally we played our last match against Mouloudia, then we faced Prisons without rest.” He added. Prisons players were highly motivated at the beginning of the match through the skilful setting by Wairimu Wacu who used her combinations to deceive the opponent’s block until they led 8-3 at the FTT. KC Bank team returned back quickly to the match when their big gun Dorcas Ndasaba started to work properly in spiking from position 4 and also from the backline and thus they gained the lead 14-10 before they kept ahead 16-14 at the STT. Prisons arranged their defense but Ndasaba was very concentrating with her setter Esther Ouna to widen the point deficit to 24-20. Suddenly Prisons arranged their block against Ndasaba attacks by the middle blockers Diana Khisa and Agala Khadambi to score 5 successive points and lead 25-24. After very exciting rallies, Prisons succeeded to end the set 27-25 through a group of spikes from Lydia Maiyo. In the second set Prisons started more concentrating in defense and block and continued their lead 8-4. KC Bank regained their rhythm in defense and attacks through Ndasaba and Edna Rotich, but still Prisons had the upper hand to lead 16-12. KC Bank struggled to decrease the point deficit to 22-20 through the better arranged block by the experienced Margret Indakala. Prisons went through to win the set 25-21. The third set showed complete dominance for KC Bank as the setter Ouna started to use the combinations and set many times for Doris Palanga in position 2 and also for Rotich in position 3 to lead 8-2 at the FTT. Prisons reception and digging showed much disturbance and this allowed KCB to dominate the net action and widen the point deficit to 16-8. KCB continued their solid block of Margret to win the set widely 25-13 to extend the match to tiebreak. The tiebreak showed again more competition as it went point by point till KC bank led 6-4 after a group of spikes from Palanga and Ndasaba. Prisons’ defense became more stable and Maiyo did well again to allow her team to lead 8-7 at the court turn. The situation became more exciting with both teams going point by point till Prisons won the critical points and ended the Marathon 17-15 and the match 3-2. KCB started the fourth set more motivated to win and again Ndasaba’s performance raised to the top as she succeeded to penetrate the Prisons’ block frequently to lead 8-7 at the FTT. Again Rotish did her best in the skillful spiking from position 4 aided with the solid block of Margret and Jackline Barasa to win the set widely 25-13. Moulouda started the tiebreak aggressively as they deployed their solid block against Ahly attacks to lead 8-4 at the court turn. Ahly improved their block a lot through Hagar and Mona Badawy to decrease the point’s deficit to 8-7. Ahly players fell into frequent net mistakes to widen the difference again to 11-8. The better Algerian team continued steadily till they won the set 15-12 and the match 3-2. Play off 5-8 Al Shams vs. Nkumba University Al Shams of Egypt pulled of an easy victory over Nkumba University of Uganda 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-) in 55 minutes. With this victory Shams meets Bafia of Cameroon for the 5th sand 6th positions, while Nkumba plays VC Canon for the 7th and 8th positions. Shams team lead the match all through by their better reception and backline defense which allowed them to build up the attacks through the experienced middle blocker Ingy El Shami and the strong left attacker Dina Assal who was the match scorer with 14 points as well as the efficient spike service of Samar Ebeid. Bafia vs. VC Canon Bafia Evolution of Cameroon clinched an important victory over VC Canon of RD Congo 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-20) in 79 minutes. Although the victory was in straight sets the losers Canon played a good match led by their stars Nkumu Lombe whoi was her team scorer with 16 points. Bafia ensured again that they are a promising team specially their spiker Nana Tchoudjang who was the match scorer with 17 points and also the most prominent match star. Bafia plays Shams on Saturday for the 5th and 6th positions, while Canon meets Nkumba University for the 7th and 8th positions.