Volleyball: Kenyans aim for top 10 finish

Mike Chemos during the previous volleyball championship.PHOTO/DENNIS OKEYO

National men’s volleyball team captain Bett confident his side will meet the target.

Kenya men’s volleyball team captain Jairus Bett believes the national team is capable of a top ten finish in the ongoing African Nations Cup cum World Championship qualifiers in Cairo, Egypt.

The youthful Moses Epoloto’s side made a stuttering start to the 16 teams competition, losing their first two Group B matches to Ghana and Tunisia by straight sets before bouncing back to upset Libya 3-2 (25-16, 25-20, 21-25, 21-25,12-15) in their final preliminary round fixture.

Kenya went on to silence Nigeria by the same margin  3-2 (25-20, 20-25, 25-29, 22-25, 15-13) in Thursday’s night 9-14 ranking match at Cairo Complex Stadium to secure a date with Chad in the 9-12 place playoffs (The match was due to be played last evening).

Despite failing to qualify for the quarter-finals, the reigning Kenya Volleyball Federation National League player of the year has been impressed with his team’s progress and improvement.

“I think the boys are improving game by game. We are in great form and we have now believe in ourselves, I wish we had started the tournament like this,” Bett told The Standard Sports on phone from Cairo.

“But I am proud of the boys. That was a good response after a slow start and I believe the experience we are getting here will go a long way in helping us in future assignments.

“Everybody is focused and our target now is to  finish in the top ten. I know we will achieve that,” added the Kenya Prisons star.

Paul Bitok’s Rwanda dropped to the 5-8 place playoffs after falling 3-0 to hosts and favourites Egypt (25-14, 25-18,25-14)in the quarter-finals as Cameroon saw off Libya 3-2 to book a semi-final date with the Egyptians.

Tunisia and Algeria were due to face-off last night after both teams beat their respective opponents by straight sets in the quarterfinals.