By Gbemidepo Popoola
After losing to Cameroon in her second match 0-3 (16-25, 13-25, 18-25), Nigeria bounced back to winning ways in their third match at the ongoing 2023 African Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship in Yaounde, Cameroon.
Nigeria pummeled Burundi 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-9) to record their second win of the championship played at the Palais Polyvalent des Sports de Yaounde on Friday.
The head coach of Nigeria women’s volleyball team, Samuel Ajayi said the players got their rhythm against Burundi despite struggling in the first set.
Ajayi revealed that with adequate exposure, especially international friendlies, the team will improve drastically.
He said, “My players lived up to expectations during the match against Cameroon on Thursday and we struggled in the first set against Burundi but picked ourselves together at the end of the day.
“Nigeria has participated in several championships over the years but we are currently rebuilding our women’s national team.”
“You can all see that a large chunk of the team paraded are young and you do not expect them to be as spectacular as other teams that have been together for a very long time and participated at World Championships.”
“I believe in the coming years; Nigeria will return to where they rightfully belong,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, the captain of the women’s team, Comfort Amaonwu waxed lyrically, “The championship has lived up to its expectations and Nigeria is not going to give up.
“We came here to make a difference and not be scared of any team. You saw how we played the Cameroonians in our second match and expect a better performance from us against Egypt.”
Nigeria will face Egypt in their next group game on Saturday at 1 pm Nigerian time, in what’s a hunt for back-to-back victories for the first time in the competition.
