Volleyball Court
Nigeria against Egypt for final. On Thursday, Nigeria qualified for the final of the 2023 girls U-17 African Nations Volleyball Championship, which would be held in Abuja.
On Wednesday, Nigeria defeated Cameroon 3-1 (27-25, 23-25, 26-24, 25-19) in the semi-finals at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium’s package B.
Sunday Akapson, head coach of Nigeria’s U-17 girls, stated that his team would not be overjoyed with their victory over Cameroon.
The silver medalists at the 2003 African Games revealed that they followed the technical crew’s directions.
“I am very excited and very fulfilled,” he remarked, “but we are not there yet.” I don’t want to get carried away with the excitement and lose sight of the goal for tomorrow (Thursday), which is to finish the race.
“Boosting the morale of the players was one of the best things we did during the match against Cameroon.” We were trailing Cameroon in the third set and the young setter was crying, but I had to encourage her and we won the match.
“The girls couldn’t handle the pressure in the second set because they are still young, but when they got to the bench, the coaches told them they have the ability, capabilities, strength, and skills to win every other set.” I’m proud of the young girls for entering the game and winning the third and fourth sets. Motivation is essential, and I’m glad it worked for my team.”
Mirabel Onyegwu, the team’s captain, was voted the Most Valuable Player for the second time, and the coach lauded her for demonstrating her leadership characteristics on the floor against Cameroon.
“The captain, Mirabel Onyegwu, was on fire in the last two sets against Cameroon,” Akapson added. The entire team worked extremely hard to win the game for the Nigerian volleyball community.”
The former captain of the Nigeria Customs Service men’s team has promised to put up a good fight against the Egyptian squad in the final tomorrow (Thursday).
“We lost the group stage to Egypt, and we’re going to give them a good fight,” he remarked. The Egyptians are not going to have an easy game. This is the first time a Nigerian underage team has done this, and I assure you that we will improve in the final.
“This is just the beginning for these girls.” They have a bright future because the International Olympic Committee stated that preparing any Olympic athlete takes at least ten years; these players are under the age of 17.”