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Margaret Namyalo, Amuron and Zainah Kagoya are all seasoned campaigners, and Omuriwe will be hoping to get the best out of them to stretch the season on Saturday.
KCCA Ladies are in a spot of bother. Their National Volleyball League season is on the line in Game Two of the semi-final series with Ndejje Elites.
The two sides will face off Saturday evening at the Old Kampala, with the elimination monster staring at the Kasasiro Girls.
Head coach Shilla Omuriwe was left pondering her next move after a dismal collapse handed Ndejje the advantage in the series.
KCCA had started Game One well, with team captain Eunice Amuron leading the team’s offensive charge early in the game.
But after taking the first set, things fell apart, and Ndejje came back to take three straight sets and win the game 3-1.
“After the first set, the girls got so casual. It was like a mental breakdown,” Omuriwe told Pulse Sports.
KCCA had defeated Ndejje in the regular season second-round meeting and started the game from where they left off by racing to a 25-16 triumph to set the pace.
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21:59 - 14.04.2023
VOLLEYBALL All on the line for UCU and KAVC in game 2 of playoffs
The UCU Doves head into their game two of the National Volleyball league playoff encounter against KAVC knowing a win will secure a finals ticket.
But it was defending champions Ndejje that took Game One and are now three sets away from the finals.
“Overall, we didn’t have a good game. We failed to serve the ball consistently, the block collapsed on us and failed to stop Cathy (Catherine Ainembabazi), the setting was shaky, so the offence became shaky as well,” Omuriwe noted.
“After the first set, things just didn’t work out, the execution was off, and it really cost us that game.”
The positive for KCCA is that there have been two weeks between Games One and Two.
And what has been done on the training ground in Naguru must be sufficient when the teams come onto the Old Kampala Arena floor to face a Ndejje side that knows how to win the league title.
KCCA have enough experience on the team to negotiate situations like these, but every time the stakes have been high, they tend to collapse.
Margaret Namyalo, Amuron and Zainah Kagoya are all seasoned campaigners, and Omuriwe will be hoping to get the best out of them to stretch the season on Saturday.
Ndejje were written off after losing Game One of the semis to KCCA last season but recovered to win the series 2-1 before overcoming VVC in the finals.
While key pieces from that championship team have since left, the winning mentality is in the DNA of the club and closing out the series will be high on the agenda.
For a team that lost one of their longest serving players Christine Alupo and head coach Ronald Kitosi midway through the regular season, Ndejje were underdogs at the start of the series.
The introduction of Claire Najjuko and Daphine Mpumwire into the line-up gave Ndejje another option on offence and a good block to stop KCCA.
The two will be required to take a bit of the load off Ainembabazi by giving setter Phionah Naziite options on offence.
“We need this game more, and the girls know it,” Ndejje coach Sadat Waguma told Pulse Sports.
“We have been training well, and hopefully, we close out the series in this game,” he added.
Victory for Ndejje will send them to the finals without having to go through a stretched series.
KCCA, on the other hand, can only think about the finals after winning Game Two. Defeat would mark two years of underachieving for Omuriwe and her experienced lot of players.
National Volleyball League Playoffs
Women
Game Two
KCCA vs. Ndejje -4pm
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