The ever-hopeful Kutlwano put up a sterling fight and surprised their opponents by snatching the first set, which has never happened in any of their games against Mafolofolo. This made Mafolofolo come out in the second set stronger and they took the second and third set, 25-14 and 25-14 respectively. Dipolelo Nkele and Josephine Ntshinogang spearheaded the attacks for their team frustrating their opponents who began throwing hands in disgust at every spike that landed on their territory.
In the third set, Kutlwano’s Tsoseletso Sekgweng and Mmalekgoa Nyambe showed their experience and catapulted their team to taking the fourth set by 25-22 and bringing the score to 2-2. With the teams’ defence tightened and seat belts fastened, the fifth set became a war zone. At the end, Mafolofolo won the set 15-13 and lifted the trophy for the championships.
Their coach Kabo Ntshinogang was all smiles and asserted how happy he was with the end result. He said that he would be happier if he could win the Zone six games that will be held December, the only game that is left for his team this year. “When I came here I was not looking at winning but at improving our serving and blocking skills for the coming Zone six games. The first two sets were okay on those but I became worried in the last three sets when the girls’ performance went down,” Ntshinogang said. He noted that if Kutlwano had realised that his players were slow and picked up pace, they could have easily won the match. “The way we played and won today after that vigorous physical training, I am afraid that if we can come against any team fully ready we will not have any competition in the country,” said the happy coach who doubles as the national team’s coach. He however said that if he can win the zone six champions he would have to lose five of his experienced players to groom five new players. “It is always good to start at the bottom with new players rather than staying at the top with the same players,’’ he said.
On the other team, it was sadness as their hard work only amounted to second best. Kutlwano’s coach Isaac Samuel said that it was obvious that they were hurt as a team at losing because they had expected to win. “The players lost concentration towards the end. I think they became nervous in the last set and that is why they lost the services when it was very crucial,” he said. He asserted that they had to work on improving different departments like the defence and the setting. “They still have to learn to recover the balls that pass the blocking department or the tosses. This is their main weakness,” Samuel said.
At the end of the game, Tebogo Sejewe of Kutlwano was awarded for being the best server and the most valuable player for the tournament. Naomi Mangole of Teletswana was awarded best attacker while her teammate Keatlaretse Mpipi was awarded best defender. Dipolelo Nkele of Mafolofolo got the best blocker while Kelebogile Mahupela of the same team got the best setter.
