Malkia Strikers put up spirited fight, lose to Poland

By Peter Ochieng

The Kenya women's national volleyball team, Malkia Strikers lost the second group match in the ongoing 2024 Paris Olympics, France on Wednesday night.

Despite putting up a brave fight, the African champions were no match for Poland, the third best ranked team in the World, after Italy and Brazil.

Malkia Strikers went down fighting in three straight sets of 25-14, 25-17 and 25-15, in what turned out to be the best outing so far for Kenya, despite the defeat, compared to the first game against Brazil, when coach Japheth Munala's charges were defeated under-15 in all the three sets.

Munala’s side began the game brightly, going toe-to-toe with their opponents in the first set until the Poles raced to a 14-6 lead.

The second set started in similar fashion, with Malkia Strikers responding in kind to every point notched by the European representatives, at some point managing a 5-5 scoreline.

Before the Poland clash, Malkia Strikers outside hitter Leonida Kasaya who is making her second Olympics appearance after the 2020 edition, urged her young teammates to up their game in the remaining pool B matches.

“We just need courage. Each member of the young team members need to push harder," she pointed out. Her rallying call seemed to sometimes work against Poland, only for poor reception and blocking efforts to fail Kenya.

On her performance against Brazil in the first match, Kasaya said: “My performance was average, not that bad, but I need to put in more effort as a senior player, because junior players will be looking up to me, so I am compelled to perform well. I’m not at my very best though, compared to Tokyo where I was in fine form."

"Upon return from maternity leave, I have not reverted to my level of play, but with time I will be back in the groove and regain my usual form."

“In my opinion, we really tried because we played against one of the top teams in the world. Technically, just a little slip-up on the kills; I believe we did well on reception. With courage and some a calculated attack effort, everything will be okay. We just need to upscale our reception to 80 percent," added the 30-year-old player.

Kenya will face Japan in the last group match.