SCHOOLS: Kwanthanze and Cheptil reclaim national volleyball titles

Cheptil Secondary School from Rift Valley and Kwanzanthe Secondary School from Eastern recaptured their boys and girls volleyball titles as curtains fell on the 2024 national Term Two games in Kisii on Thursday.

Cheptil laboured to a 3-2 (25-20, 21-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-9) victory against reigning East Africa champions Friends Boys High School Namwela in a scintillating encounter played at Kisii School.

A delighted Cheptil captain Justus Keino said they had accomplished their first mission and they are now focusing on recapturing the East Africa trophy which they also won in 2022.

"We have been working very hard for this moment since we were bundled out at the regional games last year. However, we are not done yet because we still have a tough task ahead of us in Uganda," Keino said.

East Africa girls champions Kwanthanze dethroned Kesogon to bag their seventh national title.

Kwanzanthe showed that they meant business by snatching the first set 25-22.

Determined to defend their title, Kesogo returned to take the second and third sets 28-26 and 25-12 to take a 2-1 lead.

With their title hopes at stake, Kwanthanze, who are known for their never-dying spirit, fought hard to grab the fourth set 26-24 and set stage for the decisive fifth set.

With victory within reach, Kwanthanze controlled the game to take the set 15-10 and snatch the bragging rights.

Nyabondo from Nyanza and Soweto Academy from Nairobi earned their tickets to Uganda Games after winning their respective boys and girls third place playoffs matches against Hospital Hill from Nairobi and Lugulu Girls from Western.

Kwanthanze skipper Faith Cheptoo said that they will shelve celebrations for a later date as they shift their focus to defending their East Africa crown. "I'm glad we achieved this feat. Even so, we will celebrate later because we are only days away from the East Africa games and we must remain focused."

Home girls Oyugi Ogango Girls High School retained their netball title after beating Western's Bumala AC Secondary School 58-33 in the final.

Rift Valley's Andersen secured the final netball ticket to the East Africa games following their resounding 81-22 victory over Kinale Girls High School from Central. 

Oyugi Ogango, Bumala AC and Andersen now face an uphill task of trying to break Uganda's dominance in the sport.