KCCA men’s volleyball team completed the National Club Championship double with a commanding 3-0 win over Nemostars in the rescheduled final at the Old Kampala Arena on Sunday.
With the initial game played in Gulu forced to end prematurely due to insufficient lighting in Gulu a week ago, the two sides were forced to replay the entire match in Kampala.
The Kasasiro Boys, despite a slow start, recovered from 21-19 to take the first set 25-22 and there was only one winner after that.
Alex Mugoda’s charges dominated the game after that, with Carlos Oumo and Vincent Odeke pacing their serves to trouble Nemostars’ passing.
Esau Ecil, who won the same prize with Nemostars last season, was on top of his game against his former paymasters to make it two in a row for himself.
Setter Edrisa Kijjambu and opposite Muhammad Iga were good options off the bench for KCCA and made a difference whenever introduced.
KCCA wiped the floor with Nemostars in the second set and took it 25-18 to edge ever closer to victory and a rare piece of silverware.
And despite Nemostars’ fightback in the third frame, KCCA held on to run away with it 26-24 and close the contest.
‘We came to serve and defended well throughout the game,’ Mugoda told Daily Monitor after the victory.
Bad day
Nemostars had one hand on the trophy a week ago, leading 2-0 before KCCA forced a postponement by taking the third set in Gulu.
In Kampala, Nemostars were in sixes and sevens. Setter Smith Okumu struggled to connect with Geoffrey Onapa and middle blocker Bernard Malinga.
That came to bite late in the game when George Aporu had trouble executing and it all played in KCCA’s favour.
The 2024 winners came into Sunday’s game on the back of a 3-1 win over Sport-S in the league opener played on Friday but were second best against KCCA.
Double joy
With the victory, KCCA men join their women’s team to complete a double for the season.
Shilla Omuriwe’s side defeated Sport-S 3-0 in Gulu to win the women’s competition.
City Hall will now be home to the two trophies the next one year. And the two pieces of silverware come with tickets to next year’s Africa Club Championships.
The two teams have also sent an early warning to the rest of the field going into the new league campaign.
By beating Sport-S in the semis and Nemostars in the final, the Kasasiro Boys have put everyone on notice.
National Club Championship
Final – men
KCCA 3-0 Nemostars