Kenya beach volleyball women’s team were forced to dig deep to beat Morocco 2-1 (21-19,16-21,16-14) in their semi-final golden match to advance to the final of the CAVB Continental Cup/Olympic qualifiers here in Agadir, Morocco.
Kenya will now face the winner between Nigeria and Egypt in the final where a slot at the Tokyo Olympic Games will be at stake.
Kenya Team Two comprised of Yvonne Wavinya and Phosca Kasisi lost 2-0 (14-21,11-21) to Morocco’s Team One of Imane Zeroual and Imane Yakki while Kenya’s Team One of Brackcides Agala and Gaudencia Makokha rallied to beat Morocco Team Two of Nahassim Essayad and Alex Naowal 2-1 (21-12,18-21,15-8) and set up the golden match.
Morocco picked the pair of Zeroual and Yakki while Kenya fielded Makokha and Agala in the golden match where the Kenyans won 2-1 to seal a place in the final.
In the golden match, Morocco took an early 6-4 lead in the first set before poor reception from the hosts allowed Kenya to recover and lead 8-7.
Zeroual’s tricky services disoriented Kenya’s reception as Morocco reclaimed their lead 12-9 and 15-11.
Agala and Makokha then combined well to bag four points as Kenya closed in on their opponents 16-15.
An ace from Agala and a wide service from Zeroual saw them tie 17-17.
A composed Kenyan side then picked two scores thanks to Agala’s good services to bag the set at 21-19.
In the second set, both sides tied 3-3 and 5-5 before Morocco broke away 9-4 and 10-8 as Kenya’s spikes went wide.
Kenya closed gap 16-14 but they could not keep up with the swift hosts as they trailed 19-15 before they lost the set 21-16 to level the set scores at 1-1.
In the decisive set, Kenya led 4-2 and 6-5. Poor services in both teams was evident but it was Kenya who opened a 9-6 lead.
Morocco recovered in time to level at 10-10 and 13-13, but it’s Kenya who had the final laugh winning the set at 16-14 to inch closer to their first appearance at the Olympics. BY DAILY NATION