Saturday 13th November
*Women
Sport-S ladies vs Espoir (3-0)
*Men
Sport-S vs KCCA (3-0)
Ndejje vs Tigers (3-1)
UCU vs OBB (3-2)
(25-21) (19-25) (22-25) (25-23) (15-10)
UCU Doves beat OBB 3-2 at the MTN Arena in Lugogo on Saturday evening, to go third in the Serie A League table, and are tied at 14 points with Ndejje Sharks.
The result will be a consolation for last weekend’s embarrassing loss in straight sets to KCCA that saw them drop points and the third place.
Though OBB came to the contest with an improved net defense, Libero Sharif Nabanji was kept busier than usual as the UCU Doves commanded action near the climax.
Talking about the win, Odeke Vincent – Captain UCU acknowledged how the game could have gone either way before commenting on their next fixture.
“It wasn’t an easy win though we won the first set. We kind of relaxed and they beat us in the next sets with our horse out of play hitting most of his balls in the net. Coming into the game we wanted three points but they over-served our horse and that took him off.”
“We are ready for Nemostars, and we have enough time to prepare a lot more for them. We’ve played them several times in and out, so we know how they play and our areas of strength.”
UCU broke the deadlock taking the first point through a block out on OBB center player Salva Marial, which was paid back instantly to square the scores and claim a two-point lead.
The Doves through opposite hitter Nespal Angiro would later dominate play midway through the set to reclaim the lead but failed to harness in the heated contest.
OBB Coach Luke Eittit subbed off Brian Atuhaire and Hussein Adome for Jonathan Tumukunde and Senior setter John Bosco Opendi, but the duo had no impact as UCU took the first set 25 – 21.
OBB returned fired up to set a narrow one-point lead in the second set, which was extended to four as UCU flunked on the block defense and lost by six points.
OBB came from down (12 – 15) to win the third set by three points 25-22 and on return, UCU instantly claimed an early three-point lead but in a pulsating exchange were denied a comfortable cruise as OBB kept catching up with them. The game remained undecided till the last point and carried on to a decisive set.
“Our game plan worked until the game became intense and the boys started making unforced errors which gave UCU the belief that they could win the game.” Luke Eittit, OBB Head Coach said.
OBB will have a chance to bounce back next weekend as they return against a struggling Nkumba Navy, but Luke says he won’t take any chances as “any team can surprise you on a good day.”
“Nkumba are deemed to be a weaker team but I believe on a good day any team can surprise you. So we respect every team in serie A and we shall give our best.” He assured.
The tiebreaker was not any different from all the other sets with both teams moving in sync point for point before UCU broke away to turn sides in the lead by three at 08-05 and later emerge winners of the day with a five-point gap.
