National women’s volleyball team Malkia Strikers lost the first of two friendly matches in Belgrade, Serbia, going down 3-0 (25- 19, 25- 19 and 25-17) to local champions Red Star Belgrade.
Despite the loss, the technical team led by Brazilian coach Luizomar de Moura picked positives and areas to address before they face off with Serbia’s national team second string side in the second friendly match on Sunday.
Against the Serbian League champions Red Star, Malkia had a good start and led 8-5 at the end of the first technical timeout in the opening set.
Red Star tied the score at nine points but a cross court attack from Moim and a Chumba block had the difference back to two at 11-9.
The Serbian champions were forced to the first timeout with Malkia leading 14-12.
Coming back, they seemed to have tied the lose ends and they managed to steady their ship and controlled the lead and Malkia responded with a timeout of their own as they trailed 21-19.
They came back but still struggled to keep the pace, with Red Star picking four unanswered points to take the set.
In the second set, Red Star were neater, but the Kenyan girls were relentless and led 16-14 at the second TTO. But coming back, the home girls managed to re-take the lead and they led went on a 6-0 scoring run prompting the Kenyan bench to call for a timeout.
But, the mistakes didn’t lessen and the Serbians took advantage to win the set 25-19.
The Serbians kept the gap safe in the third set and led 9-5 before the Kenyan bench made changes. However, Red Star kept the hunt and led 16-10 at the second TTO before stretching to a six-point lead with 21-15 and ultimately winning the set with a seven point difference.
