With this weekend’s 3-2 win over Sky Volleyball Club in the final of the KAVC International tournament, University of Kibungo, formerly INATEK, continued with their dominance over Ugandan sides in the region.
And yet, head coach Dominique Ntawangundi believes the competition keeps growing every other year.
“Uganda has good team and it is never easy to defeat them at home,” Ntawangundi, who raced round the court before kneeling down to thank God for his team’s victory, told Kawowo Sports.
The Rwandan outfit made light work of last year’s losing finalists Sport-S in the semifinals before crushing 2014 winners Sky in a highly contested encounter.
“They (Sky) started well and had the supporters behind them but we remained focused and knew that we were still in it,” he added.
After Sky struggled to get past 8-man Nairobi Volleyball Club in the semis, many tipped the Rwandan side, inspired by 2014 Uganda National Volleyball League MVP Daudi Okello, to ease to their second title in succession.
The start to the game suggested otherwise though. Just like Sport-S did in the final last year, Sky took the first set 26-24 to excite the home crowd but it is the small group of away fans that celebrated at the end of the game and the tournament.
Not even the often suspect calls from the Ugandan officials could disrupt UNIK as their coach kept urging them to concentrate on the game and not the umpires.
For the second year in a row now, Ugandan teams have failed to lay hands on the KAVC International title that goes with $1000 from main sponsors.