Sunday Akapson, 2003 All African Games silver medallist and head coach of the Nigeria U-17 girls, says his team is not getting carried away following their win over Cameroon in their second game of the 2023 Girl’s U-17 African Nations Volleyball Championship, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Nigeria return to winning ways on Monday beating Cameroon 3-1 (19-25, 25-20, 25-13, 25-22) to record their first win at the ongoing 2023 girl’s U-17 African Nations Volleyball Championship in Abuja.
Despite a strong first set on Saturday, Akapson’s girls lost to Egypt 3-0 (24-26, 18-25, 15-25) in the opening match of the championship.
They, however, put up a better display on Monday to progress to the semi-finals of the competition where they will be facing the same opponents they defeated.
Speaking after the game, Akapson said they hoped to improve on their game when they face the familiar foes on Wednesday.
He said, “Congratulations to everyone because this is the first time we are having an aged group tournament and Nigeria won a game on home soil, this is telling the players that they can always do it and this is just the starting point.
“We don’t want to over-celebrate this victory because we are meeting them again on Wednesday in the semi-finals but the good thing is this will prepare our girls and let them know that if we play our game we stand a chance to win.
“We did a lot of psychological analysis of the team and we changed so many things about our relationships with the girls and it worked. If that works we will improve on that to get results in our next game.”
Meanwhile, after defeating Nigeria and Cameroon on Saturday and Sunday respectively, Egypt have qualified for the final of the 2023 girl’s U-17 African Nations Volleyball Championship.
The North African maintained their unbeaten run at the championship and will face the winners between Nigeria and Cameroon in a final that will be played on Thursday.
This edition of the girl’s U-17 African Nations Volleyball Championship is taking place at the indoor sports hall of Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.