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

Final Prisons African champions, Mouloudia second and KCB for bronze  Cairo, Egypt, May 4, 2008- In a big Kenya day of Glory Kenya retained the trophy of the 2008 Women’s African Clubs Champions Championship following Prisons victory over Mouloudia of Algeria in a thriller final her at Abdalla Al Faysal Hall in Ahly club Cairo, Egypt on Sunday. KC Bank of Kenya won also the bronze after defeating the Organizers Al Ahly of Egypt in the third place match.  After the final CAVB President Dr. Amr Elwani and the guests of honour gave the trophy to Prisons team, the silver medal for Mouloudia and the bronze medals for KC Bank. The matches were attended by Local Organizing Committee Mr. Mohamed Abdelwahab, the control committee president Mr. Baba Sy, CAVB Referee commission president Mr. Hassan Ahmed, Referee delegate Salamba and CAVB technical director Howyda Mondy and Ahly Sports Manager Samir Abdrabou with most of Ahly board members. Final: Prisons vs. Mouloudia  Prisons of Kenya won the African championship after they clinched a respectful victory over the competition dark horse Mouloudia of Algeria 3-0 (25-19, 27-25, 25-23) in 79 minutes of thrillers action. Prisons setter Wairumu Wacu and the left attacker Lydia Maiyo played the greatest role in the victory, the first with her marvelous setting and combinations by the net and the second with her unstoppable hits all through the match that put her as the match scorer with 18 points.  Mouloudia controlled the net action at the start through the impermeable block of Nassima Benhamouda and the spikes of Dalel Draa and thus they led 8-5 at the first technical timeout (FTT). Prisons team improved their block of Diana Khisa to decrease the point deficit gradually till they led in the second technical time out 16-12. Prisons started to use the wing spiker Lydia Maiyo to penetrate the Algerian block till they won the set 25-19.  Prisons started the second set with the strategy of the fast attacks through Agala Khadambi in position 3 which was tolerated at the start by the Algerian block to lead 4-2 but soon it has become less afforded and thus Prisons led 8-7 at the FTT. Mouloudia recovered through the skillful setting by the competition best setter Fatima Okazi to draw 13-13 before Mercy Moim led Prisons to lead again 16-14 at the STT.  The Algerian team started to use the left attacker Amel Khamtachi in spiking from position 2 but Prisons blocked well to lead 21-18 before Mouloudia coach asked for a timeout to arrange the block and succeeded to come near until the draw 24-24 before Prisons wion the critical points that allowed them to win the set 27-25.  The third set showed more improvement in Prisons defense against Mouloudia attacks and thus they led 8-5 at the FTT. Prisons setter Wairimu Wacu did her best in the combinations that deceived Mouloudia block and thus they widened the point deficit to 16-11 at the STT. Khadambi returned back to her role in blocking from position 3 to allow her team to stay ahead 20-16 and continued the successful spikes to win the set 25-23 and the match in straight sets. Bronze medal: Al Ahly vs. KC Bank KC Bank of Kenya repeated the bronze medal they won last year when they won the defending champions Al Ahly of Egypt 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 23-25, 25-14) in 99 minutes. KCA won their third African Medal after the gold in 2006 and the bronze in 2007. The experienced duitto Dorcas Ndasaba and Edina Rotish were as usual the match stars and also the scorers with 17 points each. Al Ahly weak defense didn’t allow them to build up the attacks and in contrary KCB had better backline defense that allowed them to apply their coach’s strategy.  Al Ahly started the match with better disciplined backline defense and succeeded to lead 8-5 at the FTT due to the successful block of Hagar Badr and Mona Badawy. KC Bank improved their reception and began to build up the attacks through the wing spikers Edna Rotish and Dorcas Ndasaba to draw for the first time 11-11. Again Ahly started to use the fast attacks through Hagar and also the backline through Dusu and Nada Mahmoud, but KC Bank arranged the block of Margret and Jacline Barasa to stop these attacks and led 16-15 at the STT. Ahly players committed many reception and service mistakes to allow KC Bank to increase the point deficit to 23-18. Ahly coach asked for timeout to rearrange his team, but KC Bank was more stable to win the set 25-20 in 25 minutes.  The second set showed Ahly coach replacing the setter Yosra Abdel Karim by Miral Raouf and the center Hagar by Noha Mahmoud, but KC bank with the same line up arranged their attacks through the field star Dorcas and the opposite Doris Palanga to lead 8-6 at the FTT. Ahly team again showed disturbance in the backline defense that allowed the Kenyan side to use the efficient attacks of Rotish and Palanga to reach to 16-9 at the STT. Ahly returned back when they decreased their mistakes and decreased the point deficit to 20-23, but KC bank again won the critical points to win the set 25-20.  KCB started the third set wit the strategy of fast attacks to deceive Ahly block and succeeded to lead 4-2 before Ahly used the wing spikers Dusu and Nahla Sameh to lead for the first time at technical time out 8-7. Ahly played their best in the match and improved the attacking power through the combinations led by Miral to lead 16-13 at the STT. KCB players struggled in defense and succeeded through the block of Margret and the spikes of Rotish to draw 23-23 before Ahly saved the match and won 25-23.  KCB regained the rhythm and deployed their solid block against Ahly attackers who committed several mistakes to allow KCB to lead 8-4 at the FTT. The KCB middle blocker Margret did her best in blocking against Ahly attacks and led her team with Dorcas to widen the point deficit to 16-9. Ahly reception became very bad while as KCB concentrated in sending their attacks to the weak backline, thus they increased the point deficit to 21-10 when Ahly coach asked for time out to rearrange the defense and succeeded to improve the score to 21-14. KCB team scored 4 successive points to win the set 25-14 and the match 3-1.   Individual Awards: ·        Most Valuable Player MVP: Nassima Benhamouda (Mouloudia- Algeria) ·        Best Spiker: Dorcas Ndasaba (KCB- Kenya) ·        Best Blocker: Diana Khisa (Prisons- Kenya) ·        Best Server: Esther Ouna (KCB- Kenya) ·        Best Receiver: Jerono Tarus (Prisons- Kenya) ·        Best Digger: Sara Talaat (Ahly- Egypt) ·        Best Setter: Fatima Okazi (Mouloudia- Algeria)     Final Ranking Prisons (Kenya) Mouloudia (Algeria) KC Bank (Kenya) Al Ahly (Egypt) Al Shams (Egypt) Bafia Evolution (Cameroon) VC Canon (RD Congo) Nkuma University (Uganda) Mafolofolo (Botswana)

By Tarek Al Adwar CAVB Press officer