Senegal shock Tunisia to qualify for semi-finals of the women African Nations Champs
Senegal came from two sets down to upset Tunisia 3-2 (20-25, 19-25, 25-16, 25-22, 15-12) and qualify for their semifinal of the 2011 Women’s African Nations championship after the fifth day of the competition held at Nazarene Hall in Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday.
Tunisia were forced to subdue to a compelling come back by Senegal, who many had written off as beaten after the first two sets. The loss to the fast-rising Senegal, the dark horses of the championships, cost Tunisia, runners up at the 2009 championships, a place in the semi-finals.
It has become the first ever qualification for Senegal in any senior African competition in the history after they finished the first round of pool B in the second position. Senegal improved their win- loss record to 3-1 while Tunisia dropped to 2-2 to play for the 5 to 8 positions.
Algeria top the pool after they swept Rwanda 3-0 (25-13, 25-21 ,25-15) improving their record to 4-0, as Rwanda dropped to 1-3 to play for the 5 to 8 brackets.
In Pool A, the hosts Kenya overcame old rivals, Egypt' 3-1 (25-14,25-20' 24-26, 25 -17) in a tough match to qualify for the semi-finals with the Egyptians as first and second of the pool . Kenya finished the first round with the clean sheet of 3-0 while Egypt record became 2-1.
In the same pool Cameroon beat Nigeria 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-20) to finish third with 1-2 record while Nigeria became 0-3 and both team will play for the 5 to 8 places.
Day 5 results
Pool A
Cameroun v Nigeria 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-20)
Egypt v Kenya 1-3 (14-25, 20-25, 26-24, 17-25)
Pool B
Tunisia v Senegal 2-3 (25-20, 25-19, 16-25, 22-25, 12-15)
Rwanda v Algeria 0-3 (13-25, 21-25, 15-25)
Program semifinal August 22
Semifinal 1-4
Kenya v Senegal Egypt v Algeria
Play off 5-8
Cameroon v Botswana Nigeria v Tunisia