Volleyball: Nkumba relish Italy experience

Kampala. “We want to dominate for years to come.”
Those were the words of Nkumba University coach Tonny Lakony, when his side defended the Aziz Damani Volleyball League in November.
Lakony had largely used a squad of 12 players to win both the league and National Club Championships with a bulk of younger players tussling it out in their own Nkumba B team in some competitions.
The aim is to have some of the Team B girls join the A side that is in preparation for next month’s Africa Club Championships in Cairo Egypt. The weeklong trip to Italy, where they have so far won two practice games and lost one, can only serve as a good ground for exposure.
“It is a great trip for us in terms of development of young players. Overall the competition puts us in a better state physically and mentally,” Lakony shared.
Nkumba’s squad of average age 21 – that also includes just two current Team A players – first beat Juvenilia Junior 3-0 on February 17 in Udine, Italy quickly showing that they could acclimatize to the winter conditions.
They then lost 1-2 (23-25, 25-16, 16-25) to EST on Monday but the sides then mixed out players for another test match to, in the words of coach Godwin Ssenyondo, “boost player cohesion.”
On Tuesday, Nkumba beat Blu 3-2 (18-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-18, 15-11) and were due to play San Gorgino last night. “The youngsters improved a lot from previous games and used powerful serves to bring down the fighting hosts,” said Ssenyondo, whose team finalises their trip with a game against Vilvil tomorrow.

Nkumba’s trip to Italy

Nkumba 1-2 EST VC
(23-25, 25-16, 16-25)
Nkumba 3-2 Blu
(18-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-18, 15-11)
Yesterday
Nkumba vs. San Gorgina
Tomorrow
Nkumba vs. Vilvil