Kwanthanze Girls crowned Africa schools volleyball champions

The six-time East Africa champions defeated Morocco's Lycee Bir Anzarane Team A in straight sets in the final to extend their volleyball dominance to the continent as they opened the Africa trophy cabinet in their first time of asking.

In the lopsided final, the clinical Machakos-based team blew away their opponents in sets of 25-17, 25-16 and 25-10 to win the prestigious school title and qualify to the World School Games to be held in a yet to be decided venue and dates.

Kwanthanze, who are also the national champions, had defeated Lycee Bir Anzarane Team B in their opening fixture on Monday and punched the final ticket directly after topping the two-team Group B while Morocco Team A defeated Niger and Senegal to reach the final.

Machakos County Governor Wavinya Ndeti, who catered the team’s air tickets, joined volleyball enthusiasts to congratulate the team whose production-line seems not to dry any time soon.

“I'm overwhelmed by joy on learning that our very own Kwanthanze Secondary School volleyball team, the recently crowned national champions as well as in the East Africa regional tournament held in Arusha, Tanzania have once again flown the Kenyan flag high in Morocco, North Africa where they are representing East Africa.”

Wavinya added that she will continue to offer support to the team which she termed as the pride of Machakos.

“They have put forth a stunning performance by winning all the sets played against the Morocco team.

I am happy they have done us proud out there. We appreciate and congratulate them on this great good achievement.”

Head coach Justin Kigwari attributed their win to dedication adding that they flew to Morocco with a sense of duty with high expectations from Kenya and East Africa.

“We’ve for the longest time wanted to participate in the Africa inter-school championship because we felt we needed more challenges after dominating the East Africa scene for a long time. This is a new chapter we’ve opened and I hope the World Games will be realistic so that we can show the whole world what we can do. Our focus now shifts to defending all our titles right from the zonals all the way to East Africa.”

Meanwhile, Kwanthanze’s compatriot Cheptil faltered in their opening fixture after falling 3-0 (17-25, 16-25, 19-25) sets to Lycee Morocco.

The East Africa volleyball boy’s champions are representing the region after clinching the regional title last year in Arusha, Tanzania.

The boys final is scheduled for Wednesday when the two day inter-schools championships will fall down.