Volleyball: Resurgent KPA claw GSU to end five-year dominance

There will be a new champion of men's Kenya Volleyball Federation League after Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) stunned reigning champions General Service Unit 3-0 on Tuesday in the play-offs at Moi Sports Centre Kasarani, Nairobi.

The Dockers had a mission from the onset, to down the 15 times local champions after they denied them their first taste of glory in last year's tightly contested match.

KPA started the game on high narrowly edging out the defending champions 25-23 in a bitterly contested first set.

And with GSU looking to rally back to steal the second set, the upbeat KPA cooled down their nerves to see off Tarus men in a 25-22 win which preceded a 25-14 rout in the third set completing a clean sets sweep.

KPA captain Elijah Bosire was overjoyed by the win, noting that the 3-1 defeat in the hands of Kenya Prisons on Monday was a wakeup call for them to rise to the occasion.

"We had to call ourselves to a meeting and promised to put in an impressive shift against KPA. I'm glad things worked out."

"We played in a five set thriller in the regular league and we were confident of getting a result this time round. Whenever you play against them you have to believe you are a better side to hurt them," noted Bosire.

Earlier on Kenya Prisons clobbered Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-22) to stay perfect on top of the table on six points in the round robin format play-offs.

The former champions have just one job to do against GSU to reclaim their title they last won in 2016 as KPA seeks to dethrone KDF, while hoping for GSU to upset the former champions for them to win their first title.

In the girls' play-offs, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) hammered Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) 3-0 (28-26, 25-17, 25-15) to set up a much anticipated climactic finale against defending champions Kenya Pipeline (KPC).

KPC survived a late scare from Kenya Prisons to crush them 3-1 (25-16, 25-23, 18-25, 26-24) in another scintillating tie.

Pipeline's head coach Paul Gitau believes his side is on the course to defend their title.

"Everyone always wants to win against the defending champions but we are confident we will see off KCB tomorrow," noted Gitau.

The title deciding clash slated for 2 PM on Wednesday will be a perfect chance for KCB to revenge against their bitter rivals and end a 15-year title wait.

KVF PLAYOFFS MATCH DAY 2 RESULTS

KDF VS Kenya Prisons 

0-3 (21-25, 18-25, 22-25)

KPA VS GSU 

3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-14)

KCB VS DCI 

3-0 (28-26, 25-17, 25-15)

Kenya Prisons Vs KPC

1-3 (16-25, 23-25, 25-18, 24-26