Mixed fortunes
Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) premier league served off this weekend with matches played across five venues in the country.
Men’s league champions General Service Unit (GSU) had a not-so-perfect start that they would have loved to, as they struggled to beat bankers Equity 3-2. The bankers have recruited heavily for the new season.
The Gideon Tarus-coached paramilitary side had played for a 3-0 win against Kenya Army on Saturday and followed it up with another 3-2 win over arch-rivals and former champions Kenya Prisons before their encounter with Equity.
Fielding the same squad that won the 2019 title, GSU had a relatively easy time seeing off the Army men in sets of 25-23, 25-16 and 25-14 for their first maximum points if the season.
Against arch rivals Kenya Prisons, Tarus’ charges won the first set 25-21 but Prisons clawed back to pick the second and third sets in scores of 25-18 and 25-23.
This snapped GSU into action forcing a 29-27 win of the fourth set to level the sets at 2-2.
Tarus’men then delivered when it mattered for a 15-12 outcome in the decisive set to take home two points from the clash.
Against Equity, it was a see-saw as GSU had a field day in the first set scoring 25-16 to take the lead.
Equity leveled matters at 25-21. The third set went to GSU at 25-18 but Equity capitalised on GSU’s poor blocking to come from a 8-5 trail at the first technical timeout and win the set 25-22.
Determined not to let the match slip away, GSU assumed a two-point lead at 9-7 in the decider set and held on to win 15-13. With that, Equity Bank picked a point from the holders.
“We are not at our best. We have trained for barely a month and that was not enough to get in shape for the league.
You have to, however, give it to Equity because they have recruited and played very well.
That was a good showing from my team for now but our best is yet to come,” said Tarus after the Equity match which was played at Nyayo Indoor Arena.
Meanwhile, Equity sent a statement of intent in this weekend’s results as, in addition to picking a point from GSU, they had played a similar 3-2 (25-17, 25-27, 27-29, 25-16, 15-11) defeat against Kenya Prisons to pick another point from the former champions.
