Following Nigeria’s Chief Naval Spikers (CNS) victory over Botswana’s SSV in a thrilling 3-0 encounter on Day 2 of the 2025 Women’s African Volleyball Club Championship in Abuja, CNS is set to dethrone Zamalek of Egypt or any other club in the ongoing competition.
Elizabeth Nyesom, the captain of CNS who spoke exclusively to Persecondnews at MKO Abiola Stadium, venue of the tournament, said the victory over SSV and the team’s mentality will spurr her team to make an historic impact and dethrone Zamalek of Egypt or any other club in the competition.
The CNS ladies, driven by a fierce determination to make history on home soil, blew away their opponents in the third set, leaving the crowd in awe.
The Nigerian team won the match with scores of 25-22, 25-21, and 25-08, dominating in every set.
Nyesom said: “We are hosting this Championship after a long while, in 2022 we finished 16th in 2023 we finished seventh now that we are home we are ready and prepared to break in to the top three of the Championship.
“We are aware that they are big teams from the North African side, we are taking it one game at a time and we will definitely make Nigeria proud in this tournament.
“This first game victory has showed that we have capacity to go all the way, we dominated from the first set to the third set, we struggled in the first set but the moment we got into our rhythm we were unstoppable and it showed in the third set.”
Also speaking with Persecondnews, Mrs Oladapo Adeshola, the head coach of the Chief Naval Spikers, explained why the team struggled in the first set.
She said: “The first set was tight because we are meeting them for the first time, normally when you are meeting a team for the first time you attack first while you study their tactics and the team synergy.
“After the first set I spoke to them to up the tempo despite the little mistakes. I encouraged them to look pass their mistakes. The girls mentality was strong and that was key in defeating our opponents today (Saturday, April 5).”
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