Volleyball: UCU stuns Nemostars to take playoff lead
Nov 04, 2019
UCU took advantage of the outdoor courts and will take an unprecedented win to game two
UVF Volleyball League Playoffs
Men
UCU 3 Nemostars 1
Sport-S 2 Nkumba Navy 3
Nemostars were humbled in game one of the UVF Volleyball League playoffs by a proficient UCU Doves team as they lost a golden opportunity to take the lead to game two on Tuesday at the Lugogo Arena.
The defending champions could not conjure up resistance as Nason Bwesigye's side wreaked havoc on the experienced stars. They capitalised on errors and created unmissable opportunities thanks largely to the returning Elias Isiagi who was deployed as a libero.
"Our players failed to come to the party, we made very many errors in attack and gifted UCU points. We do not have the time to correct so many errors for Tuesday but all our players except two are very experienced in regards to the playoffs so they will have to wake up," Nemostars assistant coach Juma Osunge said.
UCU took advantage of the outdoor courts and will take an unprecedented win to game two where any stutter by Nemostars could hand them a place in the playoff final.
"Nemostars changed a few things on Saturday which surprised us they got George Aporu from a diagonal to receive attack. We brought in Elias (Isiagi) as libero which made a huge difference for us because he picked up all Aporu's kills which demoralised him," UCU coach Bwesigye said.
Nemostars will now look to their experience in order to challenge the more youthful and energetic Doves.
The two sides return to the court on Tuesday for game two. If UCU win, they close out the series but if Nemostars win, they will send the tie to a decisive game three.
In the second semi-final playoffs, Sport-S were served a knockout punch by the Nkumba Navy who claimed a famous win over the team that topped the regular season.
"Actually 3-2 is not a very good result for us. We were close but we need to fight for two more wins in order to be in the final so it's a tough one for us," Sport-S captain Dickens Otim said.
They took long to get into the match and by the time they switched on, Nkumba had done enough damage. The two sides will face off again on Thursday.