National Youth Service (NYS) and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) yesterday won their respective matches as the first leg of the second edition of the Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) Kenya Cup ended at the Nyayo Gymnasium.
NYS bounced back from their game one loss to Kenya Prisons to beat Kenya Navy 3-0(25-23, 25-22, 25-19) in their second Group B match.
Abel Wanyama’s brilliance not only secured NYS the much-needed victory but also earned him the player of the match recognition. While NYS had no trouble downing Kenya Navy, KDF women, on the other hand, had to work harder to secure two points against Postbank to register their first win. Despite having a good start that saw them take a 2-0 lead after winning the first and second sets 25-22 and 25-21, the soldiers had to win the game in the fifth set.
The bankers recovered to dominate the gam,e grabbing the third and fourth sets convincingly with the scores of 25-10 and 25-17. KDF did not relent but fought back to take the decisive set 15-10.
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) crowned a successful Nairobi trip, making it two wins on the trot after beating the Kenya Airport Police Unit (KAPU) 3-1 in their second Group C match. The dockers had launched their campaign with a win againstthe Administration Police of Kenya (AP-Kenya) on Saturday.
Against KAPU, KPA, who settled for bronze in the first edition of the Kenya Cup, had a solid start, taking the first set 25-21. KAPU, who were chasing their first win after a game one defeat to AP-Kenya, improved to take the second set 25-23.
The dockers regrouped to control the proceedings, taking the third and fourth sets by an identical score of 25-19 to secure maximum points. KPA middle blocker Abraham Kiplangat took home the player of the match award for his impressive show.
In men’s Group B, Chema Volleyball Club saw off KDF in straight sets of 25-22, 25-22, and 25-22 to maintain their good run. Chema captain Levis Ogutu was impressive, anchoring his side to victory and bagging the game’s man of the match award.
Women’s defending champions KCB Bank rallied from two sets down to edge out the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) 3-2 and register their second Group A win. The bankers who had launched their title defence with a straight sets win against A-Plus Volleyball Club had a slow start, which saw the sleuths win the first two sets 25-23 and 25-18.
They, however, fought relentlessly to take charge of the game and take the third and fourth sets 25-18 and 25-14 and set the stage for the decisive fifth set.
There was no looking back for the champions, who remained focused to take the set 15-13 and snatch the victory. In another Group A encounter, Prisons Nairobi beat A-Plus 3-2 to register their first win.
