National women’s volleyball team coach Shailen Ramdoo has blamed poor reception for their loss to Netherlands 3-0(25-17,25-10,25-10) on Saturday night in the Intercontinental Olympic Qualifiers that ends tonight in Catania, Italy.
Kenya who have so far lost two games against hosts Italy 3-0(25-17,25-10,25-14) on Friday night and 3-0 against Netherlands on Saturday are scheduled to take on Belgium on Sunday in their last match of the three-day event.
Kenya and Belgium remain winless in the four-nation event and it will be interesting to see who will carry the day considering the two sides follow each other on the FIVB ranking.
Belgium are placed 19 while Kenya are a distant 20.
With the two results, on paper the East Africans have bowed out of the competition where the top team will book automatic ticket to next year’s Tokyo bonanza.
Ramdoo said :"I'm not happy with the way we played. My captain was not doing the reception style I want. I think you have seen flashes of what we can play, but it's not enough. When we don't focus on our reception... I said to use a reception technique, but they did something else. So I can't do anything about that. Sometimes they continue on doing what they used to do in the past."
Kenya captain Mercy Moim said, "I think we did so much for today. I'm proud of my team for the game we played today. Netherlands is the best team, we played our best, but we couldn't go for the result. Compared to yesterday, today we played better.”
Once again Sharon Chepchumba led the Kenya top scorer boad with five points
Kenya’s compatriots Cameroon who were drawn in pool D have also been swept away thanks to their 3-0(25-14, 25-13,25-16) loss to Brazil, 3-0(25-20, 25-19, 25-14) to Dominican Republic and 3-0 (25-17,25-14,25-20) to Azerbaijan.
However, Kenya and Cameroon have a chance to book a slot to the Olympics during the January Continental qualifiers to be staged to a yet to be decided venue
