Defending champion Ahly finishes fourth at 2012 African men’s club volleyball championship
The defending champions of the 2012 African Men’s Club Volleyball Championship, Ahly of Egypt, failed to finish in top three slots this year. The Egyptian men could only capture the fourth spot after receiving a defeat from Algerian Borj Bou Arririj in the
bronze medal match this past Sunday.
Borj Bou Arririj and Ahly crossed their ways in the fourth position match, while the former clinched success by making a clean sweep. Nine-time champions of the African Men’s Club Volleyball Championship Ahly gave a good competition to Algerian counterpart
but failed to prove its endeavours. Algerian team posted 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-22) victory over Ahly and forced Ahly to be satisfied with the fourth position in the tournament. It was truly a valuable victory for Borj Bou Arririj which they earned in 74 minutes.
Algeria came to the podium for the first time in the history of African Men’s Club Volleyball Championship.
Ahly had a slow start in the match. The players of the Egyptian team seemed visibly disappointed as they suffered a great loss at the semi-finals.
On the other hand, the Algerian team started out quite aggressively. They followed a great strategy and delivered quality serves in the first set. The opposite Toufik Mahdjoubi came strong on opponents and added a flurry of points. As the game progressed,
the Egyptian middle-blockers showed resistance. In the meantime, the attackers also came in action.
The exchange of long rallies started and both team tried to take lead. Mohamed Moustafa of Ahly put up a wonderful show in front of the audience. However, the Algerian players were on their optimum performance to claim the opening stanza at 25-22.
The fine combinations led by the setter Khalid Kessai of Borj Bou Arririj opened the second set in the similar fashion. They kept the momentum going and went up on scoreboard. Ahly suffered the set-backs and trailed behind. Algerian squad controlled the
action and further tried to stretch the gap of points. The strong spikes and deadly aces of Algerian players wrecked the defence line of Ahly. Second set also slipped from the hands of Egyptians as Algeria posted 25-23 win.
With two sets in hand, Borj Bou Arririj made a strong opening in third set. Pumped-up Algerian tried to put an end to the game in third set. On contrary, Ahly showed improvement and used different tactics to push the Algerian behind the attack line.
Nevertheless, the Algerian team was more motivated to win. They used strong offense and solid defence to cover the length of third set. Borj Bou Arririj claimed final set of the match 25-22 and declared bronze medal victory.
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