Kenya Prisons will face KPA on Sunday.PHOTO/curtesy
MOMBASA, Kenya, Nov 26 – Kenya Prisons men’s volleyball club will need any win margin against Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in their last match on Sunday to be crowned the 2016 Kenya Volleyball Federation league champions.
The warders came from two sets disadvantage to put a firm grip on the trophy after beating arch rivals and pre-championship favourites General Service Unit (GSU) 3-2 (25-17,19-25,21-25, 25-22,15-11) in a fierce battle at the Makande Hall to take the lead on the log with five points; one better than the losers.
Prisons had rallied to grab all the three points against Nairobi Water in their opening match on Friday thanks to a hard fought 3-1 success and they further expressed clear intent to reclaim the trophy which they surrendered to GSU last year when they shot their Police colleagues to snatch vital two points.
GSU may have a record 11 national titles but they have never won a back-to-back since 2008. They now face the reality of extending that record unless they beat Water in their last match on Sunday by straight sets and hope that KPA stretches Prisons to a five set thriller.
That will see them have a better set scores advantage which will definitely hand them the trophy. Prisons has dropped only three sets and boast of a 2-0 win-loss ratio while GSU with a 1-1 win loss ratio has so far dropped four sets.
KPA’s performance against Water in their second match means the games will go down to the wire to the last day.
The Dockers crept back to contention for the national glory thanks to a 3-1 (17-25, 18-25, 21-25, 21-25) win over Nairobi Water.
They too can still win this trophy but they must pull a straight sets win over Prisons and hope that Water takes GSU to a marathon five sets.
A three- nil win over the Warders will see KPA move to the top on six points but they will have to wait the outcome of last match of the games between GSU and Water where a celebration in KPA’s camp will start as soon as the last whistle of the fourth set is blown should the game be tied 2-2 in the fourth set.
Water, who also lost their opener against Prisons are out of contention though they showed the rest of the opponents what they should expect in the coming years.
Water is only two years old into the league and they booked a first national playoffs berth following a good run of form throughout the season which also saw them lead the log until the second last leg of the regular season.
-Women battle-
The women’s battle will be determined by the last match between defending champions Kenya Pipeline and Kenya Prisons on Sunday.
Kenya Pipeline held up to their lead on the log on the second day thanks to a straight set win over Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB).
Pipeline subjected KCB to their second defeat courtesy of a 3-0 (25-15, 25-15 and 25-23) win to add to their first win against Nairobi Water on Friday.
The last match of the day between Prisons and Nairobi Water ended 3-0 (25-23, 25-15,25-13) in favour of Prisons.
-by Elvis Joshua-
