Correctional Sunrise undisputed volleyball champs

MANZINI - Correctional Sunrise ladies cemented their dominance over their police counterparts with a 3-0 victory in the finals.

The tournament was sponsored by the Eswatini Olympics and Commonwealth Games Association (EOCGA) to the tune of E20 000. Armed with height-advantaged servers and spikers, the Correctional Services side led by Coach Mbuso ‘Pumpy’ Vilakati and first assistant Themba Sifundza had the edge over their rivals from the first set. They bagged eight points within the first five minutes and stretched to 12-2. Correctional centre blocker Nokulunga Kunene’s calculated spikes were too potent for the opposition and Correctional stretched their lead to 22-4. In a race to 25, with only three pints out, the Correctional lost one point to Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS), and ending the first set with 25-5 in favour of Correctional.

REPS gained composure in the next set, and leading 6-2 before losing their grip on what was a good start. The two sides alternated pints but after 12 points draw, the Correctional dashed away with nine more points, lost two to REPS and placed the score at 21-14. Four more points saw Correctional stretching their lead to 2-0 and ended the second half of set with a final score of 25-17.

The final set was a must win for Correctional to clinch gold and bragging rights. They finished their decider with a final score of 25-15 and REPS settled for silver.

Correctional Sunrise captain Gcwalisile Dlamini credited their victory to hard work and teamwork.

“It’s been months of hard training and what gives us the edge over REPS is hard serving and attacking. We train together every day and today we played according to our game plan,” Dlamini said.

Humbled in defeat, the REPS Captain Ncamsile Dlamini hinted on the absence of her key players.

“We had only two reserves because four of my players are on maternity leave. Correctional’s other advantage is that they train indoors while we train outside and switching to a different environment than the one we are used to is a challenge for us. I must also say that their players are quite tall so they have that height advantage on us. “

Correctional Sunrise beat REPS in the 2019/2020 volleyball league finals before their face-off yesterday.