KENYA STRIKE BACK: Malkia Strikers recover from Peru defeat to beat hosts Mexico in Volleyball Grand Prix

Mercy Moim was on fire as nine-time women volleyball African Champions Kenya bounced back from their opening day defeat to Peru to beat hosts Mexico 3-2 (25-16,20-25, 21-25,25-17, 15-9) in a thrilling five set Group Three clash at the ongoing FIVB World Grand Prix action in Monterrey Mexico, yesterday morning.

“It was unbelievable but at the same time a great comeback. Mexico were being pushed by their fans, but we really needed that win. We showed character and resilience and I am happy the coach’s strategy, players’ commitment and never say die attitude won us the game. We learnt a lot from our first match and we didn’t want the same mistakes to recur,” Moim told Feverpitch on phone from Mexico.

Kenya, fondly called Malkia Strikers, started off strongly, claiming the first set 25-16, but with the support of their home fans, the hosts responded quickly to win the second (25-20) and third (25-21) sets respectively.

However, Prisons Kenya left attacker Moim opened the fourth set for Kenya with award winning middle blocker Ruth Jepngetich impressive blocks earning the African Queens the fourth set and threw the game wide open.
The final set was cracker as both teams exchanged the leads before they were tied at 8-8 in the second technical timeout.

But it was Lydia Maiyo’s double spikes, Moim’s block and the Mexicans’ errors that earned Kenya the vital win and avenged their defeat to the hosts, last year.
Moim was Kenya’s best scorer with 16 points, four behind Mexico’s Andrea Rangel while Jepng’etich and captain Bracksides Agala had 14 and 13 points respectively. Africa's best player Evelyn Makuto had 11 points. Maiyo had 9 points after coming in for Esther Wangeci in the second set.

Wangeci won 5 points while setter Jane Wacu contributed 4 points.

Kenya are expected to wrap up their Monterrey leg with a clash against Colombia today morning, before flying to Algeria for the second round (July 3-5) where they have been drawn together with their perennial rivals Algeria, Mexico and Australia.

If the African queens win four of their preliminary matches, they will qualify for the finals in Australia (July 10-12).

In other matches, Algeria suffered their second defeat in a row after losing by straight sets of 25-20,25-21, 25-8 to Cuba as Peru hammered debutants Colombia 3-1 (25-19,19-25,25-21,25-19).