Africa: 9 teams for Two Spot in FIVB Women’s World Championship

2017 Women’s African Volleyball Championship

• October 7-14, 2017
• Yaounde, Cameroon
• Federation Website

The 2017 Women’s African Volleyball Championship is being played in Yaounde, Cameroon from October 7-14. This championship is also the final round of African Qualification for the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship to be held in Japan.  The top two teams will earn their tickets to play in Japan.

There were 31 teams, who had applied to play in the African qualifiers in the first round, but only eight additional teams including the hosts Cameroon made it past the first round of qualifying. The nine teams are split into two pools, Pool A having four teams and Pool B with five teams.

Pool A consists of the hosts Cameroon (FIVB ranking 18), Algeria (31), Botswana (55) and Egypt (40). Whereas Pool B has the defending champions Kenya (33), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa) (66), Nigeria (66), Senegal (55) and Tunisia (28).

Cameroon and Tunisia represented Africa in the 2014 Women’s World Championship, while Algeria, Egypt and Kenya have played in past world championships.

Due to the uneven nature of the pools, Pool A is only playing one match a day until the final day of pool play (11th), while Pool B is playing two matches daily. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the semifinals, while the 3rd and 4th place teams will battle for 5th place with semifinals for that position.

Saturday, October 7th matches

Pool A Cameroon 3-0 Botswana (25-22, 25-11, 25-17)
Pool B Kenya 3-0 Nigeria (25-16, 25-8, 25-10)
Pool B Senegal 3-1 DR Congo (25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 25-15)

The hosts Cameroon had a bit of a slow start in their first set, but dominated Botswana the rest of the match. In Pool B, Kenya did not give Nigeria a chance to even be in the match. Senegal took care of DR Congo after splitting the first two sets.

Sunday, October 8th matches

Pool A Egypt 3-0 Algeria (25-12, 25-17, 25-14)
Pool B Tunisia 3-1 Nigeria (19-25, 25-20, 25-10, 25-11)
Pool B Kenya 3-0 Senegal (25-21, 28-26, 25-15)

Egypt opened their tournament with a comfortable win over Algeria. Kenya had a little bit more difficulty against Senegal on Sunday by going to extra points in set 2, but still won comfortably. Tunisia came back from a set down to win their opening match against Nigeria.

Standings after Day 2 of Pool Play

Pool A (Position, Country, Points, Record, Sets Won-Sets Lost)

1. Egypt 3, 1-0, 3-0 (better points ratio)
2. Cameroon 3, 1-0, 3-0
3. Botswana 0, 0-1, 0-3 (better points ratio)
4. Algeria 0, 0-1, 0-3

Pool B (Position, Country, Points, Record, Sets Won-Sets Lost)

1. Kenya 6, 2-0, 6-0
2. Tunisia 3, 1-0, 3-1
3. Senegal 3, 1-1, 3-4
4. DR Congo 0, 0-1, 1-3
5. Nigeria 0, 0-2, 1-6

October 8 Matches
Pool A Cameroon vs. Algeria
Pool B Kenya vs. DR Congo
Pool B Tunisia vs. Senegal