The Kenyan men’s national volleyball team finished last with two points after going down 3-1 to Egypt in their last match of the All Africa Games Zone 5 qualifiers at the Moi Stadium Indoor Arena Kasarani on Wednesday.
With the win, the Egyptians emerged winners with nine points and booked an early ticket to the August bonanza in Morocco.
Uganda who were termed underdogs prior to the event, on Monday defied odds and finished second with four points, while Rwanda coached by Kenyan coach Paul Bitok finished third with three points.
In the match against, the Egyptians, Kenya coach Moses Epoloto made one change to the starting line- giving start to Sila Kipruto in place of team captain Jairus Jepkosgei as Kenya trailed 8-7 at the first technical time out in the first set.
Brian Melly, Michael Chemos and Rodgers Kipkirui combined well upfront to take the hosts to a 16-14 lead during the second technical time out but basic mistakes saw Egypt turn tables en route taking the set 25-19.
In the second set, Epoloto introduced four fringe players; Bonventry Wekesa, Sammy Ngeny, Kevin Kipkosgei and Kelvin Omuse in place of Chemos, Kipkirui,Melly and Nicholas Matui.
Although the Kenyans trailed 8-5 in the 1st TTO and 16-12 in the second, powered by Wekesa and Omuse, the team bagged points to overtake the North Africans 22-20 before they won the set 25-23 to level the sets at 1-1.
Cheered on with a sizable crowd, the home team led 8-6 in the 1st TTO of the second set before Egypt overtook them to lead 16-13 in the 2nd TTO.
Kenya held onto the lead 24-20 but faltered to allow the visitors to win the closely contested set 28-26 to have a 2-1 set advantage.
Egypt then led in both the technical time outs of the fourth set 8-5 and 16-13.
The North Africans then opened a four-point lead 19-15 and 17-21 before they sealed the win with 25-20 score.
