Playoffs not enough for KCCA

The KCCA men’s team has not been part of the National Volleyball League playoffs since 2009.

But 16 years later, the Kasasiro Boys are in the top four and will be competing for the ultimate prize when the playoffs action serves off on Saturday.

Having finished third on the log with a 15-3 record, KCCA will face six-time champions Nemostars, who finished second with a similar record.

The two sides were separated by six points, with Nemo collecting 45 and KCCA managing 39.

“I see the boys putting up a challenge despite the fact that we are playing a giant team that has been in the playoffs for long,” KCCA head coach Alex Mugoda told Daily Monitor ahead of the playoffs.

“Whatever you see now was in my plans at the time I joined KCCCA, we had a plan, with my senior and mentor Johnson Kawenyera, to recruit young players who are determined to play so that in five years to come, we can compete,” he added.

“So, what is happening is on plan.”

KCCA have levelled up this season and gone pound for pound with the big teams in the division.

They defeated both Sport-S and Nemostars in the regular season to show that they would be no walkover for whoever they face in the playoffs.

The addition of players in the caliber of Cosmas Elijah Apunyo, Carlos Omua and Sharif Nabanji sent a clear message that KCCA were ready to challenge for top honours.

“First things first, we had to fight hard to be in the playoffs and now we have to focus and fight for the championship,” Mugoda noted.

“We can't just say that it's over because we have reached the playoffs. The goal for anyone in the playoffs is to win the title.”

Tough challenge

Coming up against the seasoned campaigners of Nemostars, KCCA could not have faced tougher opposition.

Nemostars are fresh from the Africa Club Championship and will be beaming with confidence after that exposure in Libya.

But even Nemostars head coach Tom Amou is aware of the challenge presented by KCCA.

“We have to be decisive in all aspects of the game. We want to make our blocks work,” Amou told this publication.

He added: “We also want to make sure we don't give them momentum. I think it will be an interesting game given that they beat us in the regular season.”

The experience of players like George Aporu, Smith Okumu and Bernard Malinga usually comes to the fore around this time of the season, and Nemostars will hope that is enough to get them to the finals.

Sport-S still top

Looking to win a third straight title, Sport-S will lock horns with a UCU Doves team that blew hot and cold en route to the playoffs.

Sport-S topped the log with a 16-2 record and defeated UCU twice in the regular season.

With the seniority littered all over the Sport-S team, it is tough to see an inconsistent UCU side conjuring an upset.

Middle blocker Emmanuel Okia’s injury midway through the season was Sport-S’ only hiccup but the experience of team captain Dickens Otim has come in handy whenever called upon.

The best of three series provide teams’ passage to the finals, where winners book an automatic ticket to the Africa Club Championship.

National Volleyball League Playoffs

Game One (Nsambya)

Women

KCCA vs. KCB-Nkumba, 11am

Sport-S vs. Ndejje, 4pm

Men

Nemostars vs. KCCA, 2pm

Sport-S vs. UCU, 6pm