• Malkia Strikers face Poland on Wednesday.
•Malkia Strikers suffered a straight sets loss to Brazil in the opener at the South Paris Arena Monday afternoon with the South Americans bagging it 25-14, 25-13 and 25-12 in 56 minutes.
Image: NOCK
National volleyball coach Japheth Munala says they must improve on their attacks when they face Poland in their second match of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on Wednesday.
Malkia Strikers suffered a straight sets loss to Brazil in the opener at the South Paris Arena Monday afternoon with the South Americans bagging it 25-14, 25-13 and 25-12 in 56 minutes.
This extended their head-to-head advantage to 7-0, without dropping a set.
Munala was, however, impresssed by his charges, especially after giving Olympic debuts to six youngsters.
They are Esther Mutinda, Pamela Adhiambo (Kenya's best player with seven points), Belinda Barasa, Loice Simiyu and Juliana Namutira.
"These players gave their best, especially in the first two sets even though we did not go beyond 16 points, " said Munala.
"You could see their resistance in reception, attack and back court defence. Our main problem, in Kenya and Africa, is reception. But we received so many balls today."
"Our main undoing was killing (sic) off the points. We did not move the ball fast, giving the Brazilians a chance to kill (sic) us.
He said reaction was wanting.
"Brazil were fast at the net and only one (of our) blocks was up whenever they attacked," he said.
"We couldn't resist their offence and our back court somehow flopped."
However, he is already past the Brazilians with in form Poland next, on Wednesday.
"We are going to study their play (3-1 win against Japan on Monday at the VNL) and train on how to counter their strengths," he said, adding; unforced errors must be erased.
Despite the loss and continued wait for a set win at the Games, Munala insists they are under no pressure.
" If we can receive well, as we did today, and make our defence and back court work, it's possible to get such a result (a set)," he said.
Setter Agrippina Kundu was grateful to concede to a "good opponent."
"There is nothing to be disappointed about. We usually have issues with reception but it clicked today. We also had some new players (debutants) whom I feel couldn't hanlde the pressure of playing in a massive, packed up gymnasium," she said while echoing Munala's sentiments on a blunt attack.
"Our attacks let us down. It's among the facets of play we have to work on before our next match."
Brazilian setter Macris Carneiro said they had studied Kenya's style of play at a residential training camp in Rio De Janeiro, where they pitched camp since May, training five days a week.
"It was important for us to be ready for the first match. The Olympics is different from any other championship - different energy, different environment," she said.
"We did well but there always remains something to improve on. We will check the video to inform how we approach the next match (against Japan on Thursday).
" Kenya played well. We know they are powerful in attack and organised in defence. However, we always chase consistency and it was important for us to win the first match," she said.
She was impressed to play in a packed gymnasium unlike when she made her Olympics debut at Tokyo 2020 - played behind behind closed doors due to Covid-19.