KDF coach Aliwa eyes redemption in Kenya Cup

KDF men's volleyball team coach Elisha Aliwa follows action against GSU during their Kenya Volleyball Federation match at Nyayo National Stadium Basketball Court on March 01, 2025. GSU won 3-0. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

After failing to make it past the quarter-finals of the 2024-2025 Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) Men’s National League contest, the Kenya Defence Forces are seeking to redeem themselves in the Kenya Cup.

The soldiers are among eight teams that will be battling for semi-final slots on Sunday at the Nyayo Gymnasium.

KDF coach Elisha Aliwa is optimistic that his charges will finally get it right and book a ticket to next year’s Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) Zone Five Club championship that the country will host at the Kasarani Indoor Arena.

“This is our final chance to make something out of this season because we don’t want to finish empty-handed. Honestly, it was not easy exiting the play-offs at the quarter-final stage because we were among the strongest teams and the boys are now determined to finish strong,” Aliwa said.

He added that the 2-1 defeat in the best-of-three play-offs series to Equity Bank shook his charges who had believed that they were headed for the semi-finals after winning game one of their best of three contest.

“It has taken my players some time to process the loss especially the younger ones who had never experienced such setbacks because after winning game one they thought we just a match away from the semis. However, things didn’t work for us because we had a chance to win both the second and third games but failed to make it happen.”

He revealed that their troubles started after Equity won game two forcing the battle to the decisive third match.

“I think after we won game one my players relaxed because they thought they had had the game and would just win the following day and advance. They were very disappointed when they lost the second match and could not recover in time to get the job done. We learned from that experience and we are keen to do better than that in subsequent events,” he added.

KDF who finished fifth overall failing to qualify for the 2026 Men’s African Club Championship know too well that excelling in the Kenya Cup is their final shot at winning a medal and also playing international volleyball. They will take on Administration Police of Kenya (APK) in the quarters with a victory earning them a place at the regional contest.

Aliwa intimated with the schools’ season on, he has been at some competitions in hunt for fresh talent and has already identified three players that he intends to bring into the KDF next after the release of their final exams.

“We have identified three players who we are closely monitoring their progress on the court as well as academics because they must excel in both to have a chance of joining us and hopefully they will make it happen,” he concluded.