Rundu
Recently 20 teams from around the country met in Rundu to contest the first round of the 2015 Bank Windhoek
Namibia Volleyball Federation Cup.
The road to qualification led teams through a whole season of league competitions culminating in the two top teams per category per region qualifying to take part in the cup.
The opening ceremony took place on Friday evening with keynote speakers the deputy mayor of Rundu and the councillor for Rundu Urban Constituency opening proceedings. The competition was split into two groups of two,
Group A and B, for both the men’s and ladies’ competition.
Games were played in three venues, with the men playing at the Unam Rundu Campus hall as well as Dr Romanus Kampungu High School. The ladies played their games at the Rundu Trade Fair hall, a first for the facility in
terms of hosting a volleyball event. Games started at 08:00 on Saturday and went without a hitch until Sunday lunchtime, after which the playoffs for rankings 5 – 10 in each category were played.
In the men’s Group A, Khomas Nampol Volleyball Club (KNVC) from Windhoek took top honours, winning all their games in convincing fashion. It was a tough battle for second in this group and through determination and willpower the Navy team from Walvis Bay clinched second place to proceed to the semifinal.
Group B saw a highly organised and motivated NDF team take top honours, finishing their games in a clinical and wellrehearsed manner. Second in the group, the winners of the Far Northern Volleyball League 2015, Six Stars VC, managed to hold off the competition to take the last available slot in the semifinals.
In the ladies competition, Group A developed into a battle for the less experienced teams of Unam Rundu Campus, Swakopmund VC and Oshana Nampol who were pitted against two of the favourites for the title, KNVC and NDF.
Both KNVC and NDF were able to secure their entry into the next round in style, with NDF managing to win one over KNVC by winning the top match of the Group 3:0.
In Group B, Central Volleyball was comfortably beaten by SKW, who managed to win all of their matches.
The battle for second place and the final ticket to the next round was to be a more challenging affair, as the fifth team of the group, Unam Katima Mulilo Campus, withdrew at the eleventh hour. This meant that the second team needed only two wins to book their place for the semifinal round. Erongo Nampol cemented their hopes by beating Eleven Warriors, while the youngsters of Noordgrens High School also managed a win against the same opponents. This left both teams in the running for the next round. In a show of athleticism and maturity beyond their years, Noordgrens took the win to secure their place in the semifinals as the only team of the host region, Kavango, to secure a spot in the next round.
With these results, it means that of five regions participating in the first round, four regions will be represented in the semifinal round with only teams from Zambezi Volleyball Association failing to qualify in
either category