NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 8- Kenya’s Malkia Strikers endured a tough opening two sets before seeing off Senegal by straight sets in their second match at the CAVB Women’s Championship cum World Championship Qualifiers in Yaounde, Cameroon on Sunday evening.
Japheth Munala’s charges ensured they remained unbeaten having crushed Nigeria by a straight sets whitewash in their opening match on Saturday as they remained on course for a record 10th continental title.
Skipper Mercy Moim and Edith Wisa were Kenya’s best players of the evening as they led with a point haul of 15 each, as Kenya faced their toughest opposition yet. Sow Binetou led Senegal scoring 12 points.
The tough spiking Senegal who won their opening match 3-1 against DR Congo on Saturday were in no mood to slack and they went to work immediately, forcing Kenya into errors ensuring they remained competitive.
The Kenyan girls had found it tough to deal with the strong spiking West Africans endowed with height advantage, but Munala’s charges were just as good as they held on to win 25-21 with Brackcedes Khadambi and Moim leading the assault..
The second set was tougher with Senegal making most of Kenya’s weaknesses at the blocks to take cruise control of the set.
The Kenyan girls showed superb fighting spirit with Senegal taking the scores to 24-19. Moim and Khadambi led Kenya’s laudable comeback to push the West Africans and squeeze in a 28-26 set win.
Having learnt from their mistakes, Kenya tightened in the final set of the match and managed to easily contain Senegal before winning easily 25-15.
Malkia will move a step further to assure themselves of a place in the semi-finals if they pick their third win of the tournament on Monday afternoon with another clean sweep over DR Congo.