Sport-S dominate Nemostars, qualify for Africa champs

Prized victory. Sport-S team celebrates after defeating Nemostars in the final on January 15. PHOTO/ISMAIL KEZAALA

What you need to know:

  • The eventual winners went through the next two sets with relative ease to book an early ticket to continental volleyball.

Sport-S were in top form Saturday afternoon as they defeated Nemostars 3-1 in the rescheduled National Clubs Championship final played at the Old Kampala Arena.

The Nsambya outfit were notably without Brian Atuhaire and Thon Maker, two of their outstanding players this season but still received, blocked and served well against an out-of-sorts Nemostars.

Atuhaire was ruled out due to school commitments while Maker is said to be on a two-months breather to rest his knees.

In their absence, brothers Augustine Odong and Richard Kilama stepped up to complement Dickens Otim, Johnson Rukundo and Emmanuel Mululi and hand Sport-S victory.

Rukundo, Odong and Mululi were a nightmare to Nemostars with their ferocious attacks easily scoring against a porous net defence.

Good response 
Nemostars got out of the blocks early with three straight points as Bernard Malinga blocked Otim before striking right through the middle. Sport-S responded with improved blocks and good serves to lead 10-8 and force Andrew Okapis’ charges into a time out.

Sport-S held onto their lead to take the first set 25-17 and swing the momentum into their favour.
It was a see-saw second set that Nemostars couldn’t afford to lose but their errors continued to frustrate them. Senior players George Aporu, Smith Okumu and Fahad Zungu all struggled in the service box to add to the poor reception.

When the league champions led 18-16, Sport-S needed a time out to regroup and stand-in coach Benon Mugisha saw his troops turn it around to lead 24-23 but Nemostars got the final punch in the set to take it 26-24 and level matters.

The eventual winners went through the next two sets with relative ease to book an early ticket to continental volleyball.

Okapis chopped and changed in his lineups but the bench failed to provide any remedy.

“We executed well and that’s what gave us the win,” Sport-S captain Otim told Daily Monitor after the game.
For Nemostars, the game was lost the moment some players failed to keep time and their misery was compounded by errors by the players supposed to make a difference.

“You can not win a game like this one with that many errors from your senior players. We’ll go back and regroup for the league,” ,” Okapis said.

Volleyball Championship

FINAL RESULT
Sport-S           3    25    24    25    25
Nemostars    1    17    26    17    19