Malkia Strikers suffer third straight defeat at FIVB World Championships

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

Giants Brazil only needed 68 minutes to inflict a third consecutive defeat on Kenya in straight sets of 25-13, 25-10, 25-16 in yesterday’s fourth Group D match of the 2018 World Championship at the Hamamatsu Arena.

The defeat complicated Malkia Strikers’ second round qualification chances as they must beat Dominican Republic at 10.10am today and hope unbeaten Serbia overcome Puerto Rico in a 7.40am tie for them to sail through.

Only the top four teams in each of the four groups will progress to the next round.

It was a great bounce back for the South Americans, who had fallen by straight sets to group leaders Serbia on Day Three fixtures.

Debutant Emmaculate Chemtai starred for the nine-time African champions in the loss in her first start for Malkia, scoring nine points, three behind Brazil’s highest points’ scorer Natalia Pereira.

Chemtai switched positions with right-attacker Violet Makuto after replacing regular middle-blocker Trizah Atuka, who was ruled out of the match through illness.

Though Malkia Strikers coach Japheth Munala was gracious in defeat, he urged his players to take today’s final preliminary round fixture against Dominican like a ‘final’.

“We started off well. We were supposed to challenge Brazil, but they capitalized on our weakness in reception. We had no good combinations tonight. We hope to play better next time we meet,” said Munala.

His captain Mercy Moim added: “Brazil is one of the best teams in the world. We tried to control their serve, reception and attack. Our young players got some good experience in this match. We gave our best.”

Despite fielding several of their reserve players, the Brazilians displayed significant skills on serving, blocking and attacking to extend their winning run against Kenya to eight matches.

After a closely matched opening few minutes, Brazil took control of the first set after opening an 11-7 lead before Carolina Da Silva made it 14-8 as Jose Guimaraes’ charges stepped up the pace.

The Kenyans put on a brave fight and pulled to within 16-12, but could not sustain it as they easily lost points on the attacks, allowing the Brazilian to claim the set 25-13.

Brazil got off to a perfect start in the second set, taking an 8-2 lead into the first Technical Time Out. Just like the first set, Kenya tried to put up some resistance but the Brazilians capitalized on their unforced errors to extend the lead and eventually bagged the second set 25-10.

It was an easy job for the South Americans in the final set as they quickly jumped ahead 7-1.