30 Nov 2014

Kutlwano women have won the Mascom Volleyball League for the third time in a row after defeating Mafolofolo 3-1 in an enthralling, hard-fought finale on November 29.

The Big House required victories from their two Saturday matches to successfully defend their championship, and they started off that mission by trouncing Dynamites by straight sets at Molepolole Institute of Health Sciences, before confirming their supremacy by casting aside their old foes.

The two victories, which stretched Kutlwano’s winning run to 10 league matches on the spin since their opening day defeat to BDF VI, saw the Gaborone giants leap to an unassailable 31 points with one match to spare.

Coach Kabo Ntshinogang’s Mafolofolo were forced to settle for second place after finishing with 29 points from 12 matches.

But the scoreline was a bit harsh on Mafolofolo as there was little separating the two teams over the first three sets, before Kutlwano wrapped up victory with a super fourth set performance as Mafolofolo resolve finally wilted.

Even though both sides were unable to establish any significant gap in a tough opening set, their attacks were good with Tsholofelo Retshabile, Taboka Tema, Tsholofelo Oganne and Game Rakgabo doing a good job for Mafolofolo.

Karabo Molefha, Tracy Chaba, Tebogo Sejewe and setter Sesha Matswiri were equally impressive for Kutlwano, with Sejewe being the driving force as her team won the first set 25-22.

But the two teams were let down by defensive wobbles since their receptions were sloppy at times. Despite falling behind Mafolofolo continued to produce a courageous display and were one point away from claiming the second set. 

However, they let that opportunity slip away as Kutlwano fought back to snatch it by 26-24 and established a two sets lead.

Mafolofolo did pull one set back by claiming the third set 25-20, but Kutlwano returned in the fourth set to finally establish a semblance of dominance when they overwhelmed their rivals 25-13 to claim the victory and spark wild celebrations from their supporters.

It was Kutlwano’s second major title of the year after they also won the Capital Motors Independence Cup. The beaming Kutlwano coach, Dopp Popo paid tribute to his team for winning the league three times on the bounce. “We are all excited by this achievement. 

It is a great achievement, though we started off badly by losing to BDF VI our first match.  We took positives from that loss and we have been improving time and time again. Today, we got the results that we needed and we are happy to have won the league three times in a row,” said the coach.

In other matches, Spiking Stars suffered two 3-0 defeats to Mafolofolo and Dynamites as they finished the league in bottom place, without winning a single match. ENDS