Poor servicing and weak back defence cost national volleyball champions KCB in their 3-1 (22-25, 25-12, 25-11,25-21) defeat to Zamalek in Friday's semi-final match of the Africa Women Volleyball Club Championships in Cairo, Egypt.
KCB head coach Japheth Munala admitted that his players made basic mistakes against the defending champions.
“We were weak in our serving and our back defence made silly mistakes, which our opponents capitalised on. This made us lose easy points against the North Africans,” Munala said.
It was a similar scenario with Kenya Pipeline as they were bundled out of the competition after losing 3-1 (22-25, 25-12, 25-11 and 25-21) to Egyptian giants Al Ahly.
The two Kenyan sides were due to face off in the third place playoffs last evening as Zamalek battled with Al Ahly in the final.
Meanwhile, Kenya Prisons thrashed Litto Volley Club of Cameroon 3-1 (17-25, 25-22, 25-22 and 25-22) to finish fifth in the Africa Women Volleyball Club Championships as curtains fell on the continental showpiece in Cairo yesterday. Earlier, Prisons had overcome Mayo Kane Evolution (MKE) of Cameroon 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 25-23, 25-20 and 15-10) in the 5-8 place classification matches.
Kenya Prisons head coach Josp Barasa was happy with the performance of the girls.
“They have made us proud to finish fifth in this competitive tournament where each team was tough from the word go. We live to fight for another day,” Barasa said.