The head coach of Nigeria women’s volleyball team, Samuel Ajayi has commended his players for giving the Egyptian team a good fight on matchday 4 of the 2023 African Senior Women’s Nations Volleyball Championship on Saturday.
With the loss to Egypt by 0-3 (14-25, 17-25, 20-25), Nigeria has won two matches and lost two matches at the ongoing Championship in Yaounde.
Ajayi said his players stuck to the instructions and frustrated the Egyptian team throughout the three sets.
The NSCDC coach revealed that his side lost the third set due to lack of adequate exposure of the team to international friendlies.
He said, “The performance of the team was excellent because their mentality and approach to the match against Egypt was impressive. They stuck to the game plan from the beginning of the match to the last set and you saw that there was steady progression in the score line.
“The players coordinated themselves and put pressure on the Egyptians, we did not give them any respect as leaders of Pool A.”
He further said, “I am proud of the players with their wonderful display against Egypt; I am sure if they had little exposure outside the country, the third set would have been our set. We lost to a more experienced and tactical team in the third set; unfortunately, exposure failed us.
He said Nigeria will defeat Algeria when both teams meet on Sunday by 1pm.
“By the grace of God, Nigeria will secure victory against Algeria on Sunday. If they can put up a good performance against Egypt, I believe they will do better against Algeria because they know we need the match to secure a comfortable place in the quarterfinal,” he added.
