Police VI ambush Mafolofolo
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday October 9, 2023 16:00
The side won the closely contested challenge by beating Mafolofolo 3-2 during the final played at the SSKB camp courts. The two sides were meeting in a cup final for the second time in a row after the December edition where Police VI emerged still victorious. Mafolofolo won the first set 25-15, which served as a motivation going into the second. However, Police VI bounced back to claim the second set 25-16, before claiming the third 25-16. Mafolofolo caught Police VI napping to take the fourth set 25-14. Playing under the scorching heat in an outside court, the game was pushed to set five which went Police VI way by a score of 15-0.
Police VI coach, Shimaka Ngwanaotsile told Sport Monitor that despite the close contest, he was happy with the results. “It is exactly what we anticipated; that Mafolofolo is going to give a strong fight because they have more experienced players than us. The sets that we won, we won them according to our plan. Those that we lost, we lost because of reception. My players struggled to pass the ball to the setter. That is where the challenge was but we had to come up with a new plan, hence the win,” he said. Ngwanaotsile said the plan was to have good service, which meant killing their service and taking the centre out of the game. He said they forced Mafolofolo to play balls on the outside and that worked for them. “We also focused more on the block because we knew they have tall players. It meant before we service, we should think about block before thinking about attack; it is the last thing to think about,” he said. Police VI setter, Lebani Ntelecha was outstanding throughout the match.
Ngwanaotsile said Ntelecha was one of the players who formed Police VI in 2018. He said since the formation of the club, she has been part of the team and against Mafolofolo she was the only setter. “I was using one setter, and most people did not realise that. I advised my players to play high balls so that she does not move a lot and does not get tired. I also expected the game to go to a deciding set and we were going to get punished,” he added. For her part, Ntelecha who is also the team's captain, said they had a slow start due to the heat but managed to pull through in set two. “We had to redeem ourselves to show that we were champions last year against the same team. I served; my team defended the court, attacked and backed each other. These are basics that we are taught during training by our coaches. It is difficult being the only setter in a game of this magnitude. It takes a lot of experience, time and support from team mates. You should be able to read how your team mates play and how you can support them in order to rest a bit,” she said. Meanwhile, Mafolofolo assistant coach, Peloewetse Nfana said the game plan was to use the centre to win the game.
He said the plan worked when they won the first set but things changed in the second and third sets. He said that they struggled to serve and receive balls. “Set four, as coaches we played along with the players, they responded well and we were able to pick a win. We do not know what happened during the deciding set. It was our first time to lose a set with a huge margin of 15-0. I guess our biggest mistake was to allow Police to dictate the tempo of the game. All is not lost, we will pick up the pieces and move forward,” Nfana said. Meanwhile, the top four teams have qualified to play in the Zone VI championships scheduled for December.
score:Police VI 3 Mafolofolo 2