Malkia Strikers lost 3-0 (20-25, 22-25, 15-25) to Puerto Rico in their third match of the FIVB Women’s World Championship in Hamamatsu, Japan Monday.
The Kenyan queens beat Kazakhstan in their opener before falling to Serbia in their second outing.
Against Puerto Rico, Kenya put up a good fight, coming close severally in the opening set despite trailing all through.
The scores stood at 13-13 at some point and later on 16-14 in favour of the Caribbean country. Japheth Munala’s charges would rally to level at 19-all but then again fizzled to lose by a five-point margin.
With 13, Enright registered the second highest point haul, with teammate Daly Santana scooping 18. Kenya captain Mercy Moim was third with 11.
Kenya’s biggest regret would come in the proceeding set as Lugulu Girls alumnus Edith Mukuvilani’s blocking exploits initially ensured a 19-15 at some point.
Enright would, however, turn the tie on its head by picking up five consecutive points directly from the serve to aid her side to a 25-22 final score.
Malkia Strikers never recovered from that setback.
“Our aim today was to qualify for the second round but Puerto Rico stopped us. We still have two games left. We will try to grow in the coming matches. We led 19-15 in the second set but did not receive well after that. We must get ready for Brazil next. We will go all out against them,” Kenya coach Japheth Munala said after the match.
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Puerto Rico coach Jose Mieles on his part said: “We are happy to get the win. We want to go to the second round. Kenya has good technique and is a powerful team. We will use the day off tomorrow to get ready for our match with the Dominican Republic. We will do our best going forward in the matches.”
Kenya captain Mercy Moim was disappointed by the team’s show but is optimistic of better results in their final two matches.
“We did not play good today and did not play as we had planned. We played better against them than the last time we met. We will look forward to the next matches,” Moim said.
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