NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 24 – National women’s volleyball team coach Paul Bitok says there is notable improvement in the team after latest victory, a straight set win over Vinhedo Volleyball Club in a friendly match in Sao Paulo.
Malkia Strikers walloped their hosts 28-26, 25-13 and 25-23 to collect another win in their two-month training camp in Brazil ahead of the World Championships in September in the Netherlands and Poland.
Bitok said the team has improved considerably in various technical aspects and is looking forward to building upon the same.
“There was improvement on reception from left players and our libero. Our service has also improved considerably and was good throughout. The players were more focused than other matches and there was good coordination in the settings. Good blocks were also noted,” Bitok said.
This win marked their third in the nine friendly matches they have thus far played, after their 3-1 and 3-0 win over CDE Bradesco and Sesi Sorocaba respectively.
Malkia’s latest victory notwithstanding, Bitok has identified a number of areas that need improvement before their World Championships matches in Group A against European champions Italy, hosts Netherlands, fellow Africans Cameroon, Belgium and Puerto Rico.
“There is still some more work to do. The back court defence was noted to be slacking whereas the target services were not very good. There was also an issue with the three metre line attacks while there were also mistakes associated with the net touches,” the former APR coach said.
At the last edition of the volleyball global showpiece in 2018, Malkia won their first ever match at the World Championship with a 3-0 win over Group D minnows, Kazakhstan.
However, they lost to their other opponents in the group – defending champions Serbia, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Brazil.
