Volleyball: Malkia Strikers seek to replicate Saturday’s win

Malkia Strikers in action against Puerto Rico on Monday. [FIVB]

Malkia Strikers out to break jinx against Brazil

Munala’s charges face Brazil in Hamamatsu today as they seek to recover from back to back losses against Serbia and Puerto Rico.

Kenya women’s volleyball team, Malkia Strikers, have a mountain to climb as they take on Brazil this afternoon at the Hamamatsu Indoor Arena, Japan, in their third match at the ongoing FIVB Women’s World Championships.

The Japheth Munala’s charges are seeking to bounce back to winning ways, having suffered back to back losses against Serbia and Puerto Rico.

Malkia Strikers started their campaign with a resounding 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-21) win over Kazakhstan before going down 3-0 (25-16, 25-9, 25-8) to the Serbians on Sunday.

Puerto Rico then compounded to Kenya’s woes by handing them a 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-15) beating.

Kenya comes against Brazil, a team that has beaten them in straight sets in all their previous seven meetings at the international stage.This includes the Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World Grand Prix and Grand Champions Cup.

The last meeting between Kenya and Brazil was on November 5 2011 when the South Americans eased to a  3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-9) win at the 2011 World Cup in Nagano, Japan, in a match which Tandara Caixeta starred, scoring 15 points for the Brazilians.

Brazil lie in second position in Group D having won six sets and lost three ahead of today's clash while Kenya are ranked fifth in the group having won three sets and lost six.

Brazil have faced African opposition at the World Championship twice before, beating Cameroon 3-0 in 2006 and in 2014.

Kenya will be hoping to draw inspiration from their historic win over Kazakhstan last Saturday as it was their only win in 23 World Championship matches.

Malkia Strikers could win at least one set in two different matches for the first time in 12 years at the 2018  World Championship.

The only time they achieved a similar feat within a single World Championship was during the 2006 edition when they suffered 3-1 and 3-2 defeats against Poland and Costa Rica respectively.

Just like Malkia Strikers, Brazil are also reeling from the defeat suffered to Serbia in their last outing, a result that ended their 33-match winning streak in group stages. Mercy Moim is Kenya's leading top scorer at the tournament.