Wafalme face Egypt hurdle in quest for quarters berth

As fate would have it, national men’s volleyball team Wafalme Stars play hosts Egypt in this year’s CAVB African Nations Championship pre-quarters clash on Friday 8 September from 5 pm.

Coach Gideon Tarus and his opposite number, Italian Flavio Gulineli acknowledge that a lot is at stake; the Kenyan out to prove that Wafalme’s historic win against the North Africans in 2021 when the championship was held in Rwanda was not fluke.

As hosts, Flavio is keen to see his side reach the quarters and go on to improve on their third-place finish in 2021 where they finished behind 11-time champions Tunisia and silver medalists Cameroon.

Coming into the match, Wafalme had a tough group stage campaign falling 3-1 to Cameroon, 3-0 to eventual group winners Libya and winning 3-2 against Ghana to finish third. Egypt, on their part, had a straight-sets victory over Burundi and lost by a similar margin to Algeria.

World champion Mary Moraa withdraws from penultimate DL meet

“From the matches we have played it is evident that we need to improve on our reception so we have worked on that. We will also use float services more and improve on our blocks as we look to have a repeat on 2021 when we last played Egypt.

This is a slightly different squad from the one we played against back in 2021 in Rwanda for a 3-2 victory so it will be an interesting and a slightly different game, seeing as they have home advantage,” Tarus said urging his charges to stick to the side’s game plan ahead of the crucial match.

Speaking to Daily Nation ahead of the match, setter Brian Melly believes that the battle-hardened Wafalme, by virtue of their group-stage opponents, are more confident and under no pressure.

“The win against Ghana has really boosted our confidence and we are focused. If we are consistent in reception, I believe we have it in us to bag the win. They (Egypt) will be under pressure since they are playing at home and we can exploit that for a win,” he said.

The winner of the clash plays the winner between Morocco and Mali in the quarters.