Local champions Kenya Prisons recovered from Sunday's 3-1 defeat at the hands of Port Autonome De Douala (PAD) of Cameroon to beat Gisagara Volleyball Club(GVC) from Rwanda 3-0 (25-11,25-16,25-18) as the Men's African Volleyball Clubs Championship entered Day Two at the Al Ahly hall, in Cairo, Egypt on Monday.
Prisons, who are drawn in Pool 'C' and are making a return to the event after six years due to financial constraints, will Tuesday face off with Rukinzo Volleyball Club from Burundi in their third match of the annual event.
Prisons coach and former Kenyan international Denis Mokua said they had a poor start at the event but was quick to note that they are picking up the pieces and hopefully they will qualify for the quarter-finals.
Volleyball: Kenyan clubs jet out for African tourney Volleyball: Equity Bank set ambitious target at African tourney'It was just one of those days but the players recovered in time to beat Gisagara which was very crucial to us. We really needed to win against the Rwandese to revive our chance of proceeding to the last eight. We will take one match at a time and hopefully it works out for us. Every team is tough here, and we will not underrate any team,' said Mokua who is on his first international assignment since taking over as head coach from former Malkia Strikers coach David Lung'aho.
Other Kenya representatives, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), who had a bright start at the event after they beat Police Volleyball Club from Rwanda (PVC) 3-1 on Sunday, were set to play University of Zimbabwe Wolves Volleyball Club in their second match of Pool 'D' on Monday night.
Equity Bank, who are in Egypt on invitational basis, will start their campaign on Tuesday after resting for two days.
The bankers are in Pool 'A' and will begin the 10-day event with a clash against Volleyball Club Green Team from Cote d'Ivoire as they seek to better their performance having last competed at the event in 2022 when they finished 10th in Tunisia.
Equity Bank Sports Coordinator Nick Ongeri is optimistic the team will start with a win to put the players in the right mindset in subsequent matches.
'The players have rested and watched other teams play and that is an advantage to us. It's not going to be easy but I believe the team is up to the task,' said Ongeri.
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