2018 Men’s African Club Volleyball Championship |04 April 2018
Swim Blue Pals lose classification match
African zone 7 volleyball champions Swim Blue Pals have lost their 9th to 16th position classification match of the 2018 Men’s African Club Volleyball Championship on a 0-3 (22-25, 18-25, 22-25) score on Monday inside the Ahly Club Halls, Cairo Egypt to FAP of Cameroon who were ranked third in pool C.
In their first appearance in the competition, Swim Blue Pals finished fourth in pool B with two wins and three defeats.
In their first match, they beat the more experienced DGSP from Congo 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-13, 25-17) but went on to lose 1-3 (25-20, 17-25, 21-25, 14-25) against second placed Aviation of Egypt in their second game after a winning a convincing first set. The boys of French coach Olivier Sauer bounced back to win the third game 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-18) over Finances of Benin.
Swim Blue Pals then lost their last two games 1-3 (19-25, 25-21, 11-25, 22-25) against pool B winners Swehly of Libya and 1-3 (23-25, 25-22, 19-25, 17-25) to third placed Bafia of Cameroon. Finances of Benin and DGSP finished fifth and sixth in the group.
The eight teams who qualified for the quarterfinals were Ahly (Egypt), Kenya Prisons (Kenya) from pool A, Swehly (Libya) and Aviation (Egypt) from pool B, Ahly Beni Ghazi (Libya), Smouha (Egypt) from pool C, El Guish (Egypt) and GSU (Kenya) from pool D.
In the first quarterfinal match, defending champions Ahly of Egypt beat GSU of Kenya 3-1 (25-12, 25-15, 26-28, 25-10). El Guish also from Egypt won their quarterfinal encounter on a 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-20) score over another Kenyan team Kenya Prisons.
With Egypt having four teams drawn in the quarterfinals, Aviation were eliminated as Smouha won the match 3-2 (20-25, 28-26, 25-22, 18-25, 15-10). The last quarterfinal match saw Swehly of Libya downing compatriots Ahly Beni Ghazi 3-1 (25-14, 25-19, 22-25, 25-23) for a place in the semifinal.
Yesterday, defending champions Ahly were to meet Smouha in an all-Egyptian semifinal and the other Egyptian side, El Guish were to face Swehly of Libya in the other semifinal.
P. J.