Nigeria’s women’s senior volleyball team has qualified to play the fifth-place match after beating Morocco 3-0 ( 26-24,25-21,29-27 ) in the best-loser match at the ongoing 2023 Women’s African Nations Volleyball Championship in Yaounde, Cameroon.
The match is played at the Palais Polyvalent des Sports de Yaounde on Wednesday.
Nigeria had earlier lost to Kenya in the quarterfinal match on Tuesday 0-3 (14-25,17-25,11-25).
Nigeria played in group pool A with Cameroon (host), Burundi, Mali, Algeria and Egypt.
Nigeria beat Mali 3-0(25-18,25-14,25-20), lost to Cameroon 0-3 (17-25,13-25,18-25), then beat Burundi 3-0 (25-17,25-14,25-9), lost to Egypt 0-3 (14-25,17-25,20-25).
In the final group stage match, the country lost to Algeria 2-3(16-25,18-25,25-23,26-24,6-15). Then proceeded to the quarter-finals stage and lost to Kenya 0-3 ( 14-25,17-25,11-25) on Tuesday.
Nigeria finished their grouped stage, pool A with three win matches and two losses with seven points. While Morocco in their group stage pool B, won three and lost two matches.
Nigeria will now face Algeria for the fifth-place match on Thursday, while Morocco will face Uganda for the seventh-place match on Thursday.
NAN recalls that Algeria and Nigeria were in the same group stage pool A in which Algeria defeated Nigeria 3-2 ( 25-16,25-18,23-15,24-26,15-6). Both teams will be meeting for the fifth-place match on Thursday.
Also, Morocco and Uganda were in pools B , and Uganda defeated Morocco 3-2( 25-15,26-28,17-25,25-16,15-11). Both teams will be meeting for the seventh-place match on Thursday.
The current ranking places the following countries respectively; Mali is placed ninth, Burkina Faso tenth, Burundi 11th and Lesotho is placed 12th.
Reacting to the victory, head coach of Nigeria, Samuel Ajayi, said that with the aid of our key players which changed the game, we were able to gain control of the game.
“I am very happy for the victory today against Morocco because the team deprived us in the year 2021 championships in Rwanda for the third place match.
“And I told my players that they should take their revenge by winning irrespective of playing in the classification match.
“A match is a match and in every match you play, you have to build confidence and I really appreciate my players because they stuck to the instructions,“ he said.
Ajayi revealed that the players were not under pressure throughout the game against Morocco. I told my players to be more focused and fight harder and it yielded results.
He said in the last grouped stage match, Algeria defeated us, but my players have realised our mistakes.
“And I believed that when we face Algeria on Thursday, we will reaffirm ourselves in the concentration and I do not expect anything less than victories in the match,” he said.
Other results from the best loser match, Algeria beat Uganda 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-16).
NAN reports that Nigeria will face Algeria for the fifth-position match.
The 2023 Women’s African Nations Volleyball Championships started on Wednesday and ends on Aug. 29.
Twelve teams are participating; Nigeria, Cameroon (host), Burundi, Mali, Algeria, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Lesotho and Egypt.
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