National women’s beach volleyball team will face Mozambique in the semifinals tomorrow at the ongoing All Africa Games in Rabat, Morocco.
The Kenyan side- made up of Gaudencia Makokha and Naomi Too who are under the tutelage of Patrick Owino knocked out Nigeria in the quarterfinals yesterday. The tie that was a re-match of their second preliminary face-off played on Saturday afternoon.
In the round of eight, Kenya defeated Nigeria 2-1 (22-20, 19-21, 17-15) to secure a place in the penultimate round. On Saturday, Makokha and Too had beaten the West Africans 2-1 (21-13, 22-24, 15-12) and to get a better seeding for the quarters they whitewashed Benin 2-0 (21-14, 21-1).
As opposed to their Pool ‘B’ tie on Saturday where the Nigerian side settled in the game late but gave a good resistance, the quarterfinals encounter was a neck-to-neck affair from the serve off.
Owino observed: “It was a very tough match, and it could have gone either way. Our opponents gave a good account of themselves today (yesterday) but our girls were steadfast.
Nigerians had improved their serves and counter-attacks but Too and Makokha commanded the proceedings. We just took advantage of last-minute instability of the opponents. There is no room for complacency in the semis,”
On their way to the semis, Mozambique eliminated hosts Morocco with a 2-1 (15-21, 24-22, 15-10) defeat in the quarterfinals. The second semis will pit islanders Mauritius and Egypt. The former saw off Namibia 2-1 (21-11, 12-21, 15-11), while the North Africans waylaid Rwanda’s ambitions with a straight-sets win of 21-8 and 21-14.
