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Ndejje Elites aware of KCB-Nkumba threat
KCB-Nkumba ladies' volleyball team. PHOTOS/COURTESY
What you need to know:
The university side, still unbeaten this season, go up against a KCB-Nkumba side that eliminated last season’s champions KCCA with a 2-0 sweep in the semifinals to reach this stage.
Ndejje Elites will be overwhelming favourites to lift the title when the women’s National Volleyball League finals series begin on Sunday at the Old Kampala Arena.
The university side, still unbeaten this season, go up against a KCB-Nkumba side that eliminated last season’s champions KCCA with a 2-0 sweep in the semifinals to reach this stage.
Tadeo Winyi’s charges won all the 18 games played in the regular season before wiping the floor with Sport-S in the semis to return to the finals, having missed out last season.
The experience of players like Moreen Mwamula, Belindah Jepkirui, Peace Busingye, Faith Magole and Jesca Kaidu is what usually makes the difference at a stage like this, and the Elites have that in plenty.
That, coupled with the firepower provided by the younger players like Pearl Akankunda, Dorothy Natuhwera and Lydia Asimo, makes Ndejje a force to reckon with.
“This is a big stage and it is only strong teams that qualify to the finals,” Winyi told Sunday Monitor ahead of the action.
“Any team that makes it to the finals is always a strong team, they have their strategy and game plan. You cannot write them off,” he added.
Nkumba, who finished third at the end of the regular season with a 15-3 record, dug deep to get to the finals. They started the semifinal series on the back foot, losing the first two sets before bouncing back to snatch Game One 3-2.
Tonny Lakony’s charges then carried that momentum into Game Two and close the series with a 3-1 victory.
Ndejje Elites have risen from the ground many times.
Hadijah Otin, Habiba Namala and Nancy Chebet are some of the players on whose shoulders the Lubowa-based side must ride to cause Ndejje problems.
Both Otin and Namala played pivotal roles for a shorthanded Nkumba side to get past KCCA, with their attack demolishing the KCCA net defense to score vital points.
That and more will be expected against the best team in the country at the moment. Ndejje won the National Club Championship without losing any game and are on course to end the season unbeaten.
“I think it will be a well contested series. Both teams are similar in a way, though Ndejje has more depth than us but we will be ready for it,” Lakony said.
He added: “We will need to improve our net defense as well as serve.”
The winner of the league will book a ticket to next year’s CAVB African Women Club Championship.
Meanwhile, Nemostars and UCU Doves will face off in the third-place playoffs. KCCA and Sport-S will be fighting for the same in the women’s category.
National Volleyball League
Sunday at Old Kampala Arena
Third place
Women
KCCA vs. Sport-S, 11am
Men
Nemostars vs. UCU Doves, 1pm
Women Final Game One
Ndejje vs. KCB-Nkumba, 4pm
