Nigeria’s women’s senior volleyball team recorded their second win in the group stage, pool A, at the ongoing 2023 Women’s African Nations Volleyball Championship in Yaounde, Cameroon.
The Nigerian team recorded victory in their third match against Burundi on Friday at the Palais Polyvalent des Sports de Yaounde on Friday.
On Friday, Nigeria defeated Burundi 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-09) to record their second victory in the competition.
Nigeria led in the first set 25-17, showing their quest for victory after recording a 0-3 loss to Cameroon on Thursday.
Although Burundi tried very hard to take the second set, Nigeria hit them again to win the set by 25-14.
Nigeria team grew stronger and took the third set 25-09 to end the game 3-0.
Reacting to the victory, Samuel Ajayi, head coach of Nigeria, said “I feel good and I appreciate the players for their wonderful performance on what have been achieved so far at the competition.
“I knew they would recover over the loss to the Cameroonians, who are more exposed, more experienced, and they are the defending Champion, Olympians and have attended more World Championships than my team. We are currently rebuilding our women’s national team,” he said.
Ajayi said, “I do not expect anything less than victories in the match against Egypt on Saturday and our last group match against Algeria on Sunday.
“We are not going to take the remaining group matches for granted and I have informed my players not to underrate any team.”
On her part, Comfort Amaonwu, the Nigerian captain, said, “The championship has lived up to its expectations and Nigeria is not going to give up.”
“We came here to make a difference. Expect a better performance from us against Egypt and Algeria,” she said.
Other results from the group stage are Algeria beat Mali 3-0 (25-10, 25-07, 25-17) in pools A.
In pool B, Rwanda defeated Burkina Faso 3-0 (25-08, 25-07, 25-14), Kenya beat Uganda 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-15) and Morocco beat Lesotho 3-0 (25-09, 25-11, 25-11).
The 2023 Women’s African Nations Volleyball Championship which started on Wednesday ends on Aug. 29.
Twelve teams are participating in which Team Nigeria are in pools A with Cameroon (host), Burundi, Mali, Algeria and Egypt.
The 2023 Women’s African Nations Volleyball Championship is the 21st edition of the Women’s event, a biennial international volleyball tournament organised by the African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB).
The top three teams of the tournament will qualify for the 2025 Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Volleyball Women’s World Championship.
Nigeria finished fourth at the 2021 African nations Championship held in Kigali, Rwanda.
