By Abdulrahman Yahaya
Nigeria’s men’s volleyball team will look to bounce back from its quarter-final defeat by Morocco when it faces Rwanda on Wednesday.
The Nigerians will battle Rwanda in the fifth-to-ninth classification match at the ongoing African Men’s Volleyball Championship in Tunisia.
Nigeria’s head coach, Ryan Masajedi, said the team had put the disappointment of the 3-2 loss to Morocco behind it and was focused on the next challenge.
“We’ll look at the match after this tournament and look at what went wrong. The focus is the next game, and the players will be ready,” the Japanese coach said.
Nigeria produced a strong fight against Morocco, winning the opening set 25-20 before the North Africans responded by taking the next two sets.
Morocco won the second and third sets 25-15 and 25-20 respectively, leaving Nigeria needing a response to stay in contention.
The Nigerian side forced a deciding set after edging Morocco 26-24 in a dramatic fourth-set comeback.
Morocco, however, held its nerve in the decider, winning 15-12 to advance to the semi-finals.
The defeat also ended Nigeria’s hopes of securing qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
In spite of the setback, Masajedi said he was proud of the players’ fighting spirit, particularly their response in the fourth set.
“We did our best and I am proud of the players. The bench made the difference in the fourth set when we thought everything was over.
“To be honest, we already understand what our weaknesses and strengths are,” he said.
Nigeria will now seek to end its championship campaign strongly against Rwanda in Wednesday’s classification match. (NAN)
Edited by Kamal Tayo Oropo