This archive report was first published on 22 October 2019.
The curtains will come down on the Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) national league with the battle for top-four finish expected to highlight the final and seventh leg in Kapsabet on Thursday and Friday.
The top four teams will book the playoffs tickets for both men and women, set for next month at the Kasarani Indoor Arena, to determine the 2019 winners and 2020 Africa Club Championship representatives.
GSU, the 13-time and defending league men champions, are hoping to guard their unbeaten record and book a playoff slot. Their Team Manager, Nicholas Kimeli, is upbeat that his charges will rule the Kapsabet meet, having made light work in the previous six legs to top the 12-team league on 21 points jointly with Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) who has inferior sets ratio.
“Despite our 100 percent win record, we should not sleep on our laurels in the final meet as they eye the playoffs slot because anything can happen,” Kimeli said.
Kenya Prisons sit third with 18 points, two below GSU, while Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and Equity are jointly in the final play-offs position with a superior point ratio.
GSU will serve off the final leg against Mombasa Prisons at 9.00am on Thursday before winding up the season with rivals Kenya Prisons at 1.00pm.
On the women’s side, leaders Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) have already qualified for the playoffs after opening up an unassailable 12-point lead with only one match to go. Their head coach, Japeth Munala, wants to finish the league as leaders and go all the way to win the tournament on Sunday, which will serve as a good warm-up ahead of the dreaded play-offs.
Defending champions Kenya Prisons, who occupy the final playoff position on seven points jointly with Bungoma County team, must defeat the latter and eighth-placed Kenya Army to sail through.
The two-day event will precede the Nandi County Volleyball Tournament sponsored by the county government running on Saturday and Sunday.
