Tough weekend for Prisons in quest for playoff slot

Coach David Lung’aho and his charges Prisons Kenya have their work cut out as they look to have a perfect weekend of action when the sixth leg of the Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) men’s league gets underway at Nyayo.

Action is set for Thursday 23 June to Sunday 26 June and the former champions need maximum points to improve their chances of qualifying for the playoffs and fight for the elusive title.

KVF men's league set for mouth-watering clashes at Nyayo

Lugh’aho’s charges hope to put the fifth leg woes behind them where they found themselves losing to fast-rising Kenya Forest Services (KFS) and almost went down to champions General Service Unit (GSU) in a match that was abandoned.

The Ruiru-based side have a date with siblings Western Prisons, a clash against Equity Bank, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Kenya Army in the four days of action.

“We have a tough task ahead. The four matches are crucial and a must-win for us. We begin with a prison’s derby and while on paper it might look like an easy fixture, any time we meet the other prisons teams they go hard on us so we expect the same from Western. We are targeting a positive start as that will give us momentum going into the other matches,” offered Lung’aho.

The warders find themselves in unfamiliar territory, ranked fifth after eight matches, two of which they lost. The side is trailing leaders KPA by ten points but the dockers have played two matches more.

Facing seventh-placed Equity Bank and KPA back-to-back is no easy task and the tactician, who acknowledges that they have slipped in losing the two matches and complicated their playoff qualification path, says the squad has prepared for the leg with the task ahead in mind.

“We have won our previous matches against the bankers but they have greatly improved since featuring in the CAVB men’s club championships. Their ranking notwithstanding, we have to tread carefully against Equity.

As for KPA, that is another tough test that we will strive to pick a positive result. They are the top ranked team on the current standings and have a good squad but I am confident we can match them play for play,” added the tactician.

Lugh’aho who has Mike Chemos at his disposal, having completed his season with Tunisia's Mouloudia Sportive De Bou Salem that play in Division Nationale A, has called out other clubs for not following the set rules and allowing players who plied their trade elsewhere to feature in the league which amounts to double signing.

“I had the option to play Chemos in the fifth leg but knowing well that it would be against the set down KVF and FIVB rules, I elected not to. It is therefore unfair that other clubs played their players and our complaints to the federation are yet to be addressed,” lamented the coach adding that in the event their reservations are not addressed ahead of this weekend’s leg, he would go ahead and field the player.

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Thursday

09.00 NYANZA PRISONS vs EQUITY BANK

09:00 PRISONS KENYA vs WESTERN PRISONS

11:00 AP KENYA vs GSU

11:00 TRAIL BLAZERS vs KDF

13:00 KPA vs KFS

13.00 KENYA ARMY vs RIFT VALLEY PRISONS

15:00 PRISONS CENTRAL vs VIHIGA

15:00 NAIROBI PRISONS vs MSA PRISONS

 Friday

09:00 GSU vs KPA

09:00 VIHIGA TEAM vs TRAIL BLAZERS

11:00 KDF vs NAIROBI PRISONS

11:00 PRISONS RIFTVALLEY vs PRISONS CENTRAL

13:00 MSA PRISONS vs NYANZA PRISONS

13.00 KFS vs KENYA ARMY

15:00 PRISONS WESTERN vs AP KENYA

15:00 EQUITY BANK vs PRISONS KENYA

 Saturday

09:00 AP KENYA vs NYANZA PRISONS

09:00 KPA vs PRISONS KENYA

11:00 KENYA ARMY vs EQUITY BANK

11:00 CENTRAL PRISONS vs WESTERN PRISONS

13:00 TRAIL BLAZERS vs GSU

13:00 NAIROBI PRISONS vs KFS

15.00 MSA PRISONS vs PRISONS RIFT VALLEY

15:00 KDF vs VIHIGA TEAM

 Sunday

09:00 NYANZA PRISONS vs VIHIGA TEAM

09:00 RIFT VALLEY PRISON vs KDF

11:00 KFS vs PRISONS MSA

11:00 GSU vs NAIROBI PRISONS

13.00 WETSERN PRISONS vs TRAIL BLAZERS

13:00 EQUITY BANK vs CENTRAL PRISONS

15:00 PRISONS KENYA vs KENYA ARMY

15:00 AP KENYA vs KPA