Volleyball: Nigeria U-21 lose third place to Cameroon

Ebenezer Bajela

Three successive defeats at the just concluded African U-21 Men’s Nation’s Volleyball Championship in Tunisia mean Nigeria failed to finish among the top three countries that took part in the competition in North Africa.

Nigeria lost 0-3 (21-25, 20-25, 23-25) to Cameroon on Monday.

The Sani Mohammed-led side were sluggish in the early minutes of the first set and were punished by the Cameroonians who led by 7 to 2 points.

Nigeria struggled to catch up with the Cameroonians as the game ended 25-21 points. The second set was promising for Nigeria as they led by 13 to 11 points but the team slumped to Cameroon losing 25-20 points.

Nigeria and Cameroon won points simultaneously in the third set till 23 to 23 points; Cameroon had two successive blocks to win the game 25 to 23 points.

Despite being tagged the underdogs at the U21 Nations Championship Mohammed’s side fought throughout the championship to get to the semi-final of the tournament.

Having gotten the better of Morocco and Gambia in their first two games of the tournament, Mohammed’s boys suffered their first defeat to Tunisia in their final group stage game.

The defeat was followed up with another loss to Egypt in the semi-final before Monday’s third-place defeat to Cameroon.