By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria will later on Thursday clash with Algeria in the 5th position match at the ongoing 2023 African Senior Women’s Nations Volleyball Championship in Yaounde, Cameroon.
This was after the most populous African nation defeated Morocco 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 27-25) in the 5th to 8th classification match at the competition on Wednesday.
The lineup revealed that Nigeria changed their starting team with Aliyat Usman, Kelechi Ndukauba, Happy Wushilang and Blessing Unkwe making the starting six against Morocco.
The youthful side produced a wonderful performance coming from a deficit of five points to win by 26 to 24 points.
Nigerian Coach Samuel Ajayi said the same players in the second set as the combination of Ijeoma Ukpabi and Happy Wushilang dismantled the Moroccans.
More reports from Yaounde revealed that the Nigerian side led comfortably with the support of the crowd winning by 25 to 21 points.
In the third set, Morocco led by 24 to 22 points before the combination of Aliyat Usman and Kelechi Ndukauba won two sets for Nigeria to equal 24 to 24 points. Ijeoma Ukpabi won Nigeria’s 25 points after which the referee made a controversial call following Happy Wushilang’s spike.
With Nigeria tied 25 to 25 points, Aliyat Usman made a fantastic drop to make the score line 26 to 25 points.
