Malkia Strikers face relegation to Group Three after another loss

Malkia Strikers Malkia Strikers Brackcides Agala digs the ball against Puerto Rico during a Group Two Grand Prix match in Poland on June 10, 2016. PHOTO: FIVB

Kenya national women’s volleyball team are facing relegation from the FIVB Grand Prix Group Two after losing their fourth match in a row.

The Malkia Strikers, who had lost all their three matches in the first round in Tucuman, began their W?oc?awek, Poland leg on a wrong footing after falling by straight sets (25-11, 25-20, 25-22) to Olympic bound Puerto Rico on Friday night.

It was the second defeat for Kenya against Puerto Rico in less than a month after the Southern American side thrashed them by the same margin to qualify for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Kenya were due to face hosts Poland in a crucial match last night (9.10pm) before wrapping up their preliminary fixtures against Argentina tonight (7.10pm).

The defeat left head coach David Lung’aho a disappointed man and he blamed poor reception and lapse in concentration for the result.

“It was tough match, because Puerto Rico is a very strong team. We played badly in the first set, because we couldn’t receive balls, but our reception worked much better in the second set.

“We know that beating Puerto Rico is not easy, we scored very well and we were really close, but when it was 22-22 we probably lost concentration and if only we had won this set the match could have looked different,” said Lung’aho.

“We now have to think about tomorrow’s (Saturday) match. First of all, we have to improve our reception before our match against Poland and our concentration level which sometimes goes low. We also have to kill more balls, because we are not killing enough balls in attack.

“We are not afraid to play against the hosts, because the most important thing for us it to just play our game. We are still building our team and we know that our time will come.”

Setter Janet Wanja said: “It was the second time we played them and we knew they are a better team. Our team didn’t play well, but we did improve our game.

“We need to prepare well for tomorrow’s match and I just hope that we will play well and our reception will be better, because we lost too many points in this element against Puerto Rico.”