Volleyball: Glimmer of hope for a maiden KPA title

Coach Sammy Mulinge has a weighty task on Sunday, 31 July, afternoon as he guides his charges Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in their final playoff match against holders General Service Unit (GSU). 

The Mombasa-based club who are chasing a maiden league title made their case a strong one after beating former champions Prisons Kenya 3-1 on Saturday afternoon. 

Volleyball: GSU see off Trailblazers to move closer to title defence

Prisons won the first set 25-23, but the dockers recovered to win the next three at 25-16, 25-19 and 25-11, to bag maximum points and set up a thriller in the final match. 

"It is an important win since we won 3-2 in our opening match against Trailblazers. This victory gives us the morale and hope for lifting the title on Sunday," said Mulinge who heads to the final match trailing GSU by a single point. 

In the regular league, KPA subjected GSU to their only loss of the season by straight-sets but Mulinge has downplayed the possibility of the same happening in the Sunday match. 

"I cannot bank on anything that happened in the regular league, this is a different ballgame. Every team is well prepared. 

However, I beleive my players are getting better with each match. Our opening fixture was like a rehearsal for us but we have seen tremendous improvement against Prisons.

If they can maintain the same tempo and play as well as they did on Saturday then I beleive we can win that game. We have the zeal and are hungry for gong," added Mulinge. 

On his part, Prisons' tactician David Lugh'aho did not mince his words in valuing out his charges for a poor show in the KPA match. 

"We played so badly, I have bever seen the team performing like that before. We could not receive and without good reception nothing else can work in volleyball. 

We missed Jairus Kipkosgei who hot injured in the first match. Being the best receiver in our team and the country, we needed him to handle KPA's strong services," offered Lugh'aho. 

The tactician says the absence of Kipkosgei and the effect it has had on his squad is a wake-up call to strengthen all departments and more so train everyone to be a receiver.