By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria continued their dominating performance with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-15) win over Gambia at the ongoing 2022 African U21 Men’s Nation Volleyball Championship in Tunisia.
This is their second consecutive victory at the high octane tournament with the first being a super performance against Morocco.
In the second match of the competition, Nigeria won seven service points (29%), 18 receivers’ points (82%), one ace, had four maximum points in a row, four service errors and zero timeouts winning by 25-21 points inn the first set.
Nigeria had a better outing in the second set with 12 service points (48%), 13 receivers’ points (81%), one ace, with four maximum points in a row, zero service errors and zero timeouts winning by 25-16 points.
In the final set, Nigeria recorded one ace, five maximum points in a row, one service errors, zero timeouts, 12 service points (50%) and 13 receivers’ points (81%) to win 25-15.
Nigeria’s Abdulquadri Jaiyeola recorded 19 points in the match against Gambia with 13 attacks, 3 blocks and 1 ace from service.
Speaking after the match, Head Coach of Nigeria U21 Team, Sani Mohammed, told Heritage Times HT that the team wants to finish top of the group and stand a better chance of qualifying for the semifinal.
Mohammed said the Gambians showed prospects before the game but Nigeria overpowered them in the second and third set.
He said, “This is a great result for the Nigeria U21 Men’s team, we want to secure all the available points in the group stage. I and the assistant coach, Suleiman Ajeigbe, took our time to study the Gambians when they played against host Tunisia yesterday (Monday). The Gambians side are good but we are better.
“The goal is to finish first in Group A; Nigeria will either meet the Egyptian or Cameroonian U21 Men’s teams. Any of the teams that comes our way in the next round will be played with our last drop. The boys are ready to make Nigeria proud and get one of the available tickets to the 2023 FIVB World Championship.”
Reacting to the victory, President of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), Engr. Musa Nimrod, in a chat with Heritage Times HT said the team’s ultimate target was to secure a ticket to World U21 Volleyball Championship.
Nigeria will face Tunisia – host on Wednesday in their last group stage match.
