Tunisia settles for bronze at 2011 CAVB African Nations Volleyball Championship
The Men’s national volleyball team of Tunisia got back on the podium after a break of almost two years. They put up against Algeria in the third-position match at 2011 CAVB African Nations Championship on Thursday, September 29. Algeria could not match its
performance with Tunisia and ended up receiving a 1-3 (26-28, 25-19, 18-25, 22-25) defeat in the bronze-medal fixture. Earlier in the day, Egypt outdid Cameroon in the gold-medal match of the championship. Hence, Egypt, Cameroon, and Tunisia occupied the first
three spots on the ranking chart.
The opening phase of the match was full of tension. Both teams had good energy to throw powerful shots and there was nothing to separate the two sides up to the first technical timeout. Algeria managed to take a one-point lead at 8-7 at the FTT. The point-to-point
battle continued and both sides deployed their block against their main attackers. Taoufik Mahdjoubi of Algeria hit accurate shots consistently while Tunisian Hichem Kaabi incorporated his skilful attacks that made his side stay in a draw with Algeria until
20-20. Billel Soualem put Algeria in the lead at 24-23 before Tunisia added quick points with back to back attacks and won the set, 28-26.
Algeria started the second in similar fashion and jumped to 8-5 lead at the first technical break. Tunisia’s Nooreddine Hfaied and Hamza Nagga attacked aggressively and put up a combined effort to break the rhythm of the opposite side. However, Algeria controlled
the net action with Mahdjoubi and Soualem. They maintained their lead and finally hit the equaliser by capturing second set at 25-19.
Third set was another tight affair, which saw an early tie of scores at 5-5. Nevertheless, Tunisia made the difference with prolific spikes by Kaabi and went up. Meanwhile, Ismail Moalla joined hands with Kaabi and took the score to 16-11 at the second TTO.
Algeria tried several defence tactics but failed to stop Tunisian hitters. They put away nice shots and secured third set by posting 25-18 on board. Success in two consecutive sets totally boosted the moral of Tunisia squad as Algeria seemed troubled.
As the game entered the fourth set, spectators saw cracking action on centre court. Despite a lot of pressure, Algeria put up a valiant effort to save the match. The Algerian coach made some substitutions and fielded back captain Ali Kerboua but it did not
bring much change. Tunisians were motivated to win and they used the spike service of Nagga and Moalla to bag several points. Moreover, the fast attacks through the centres worked out nicely and Tunisia claimed fourth set 25-22 and the match 3-1.
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