47th African Men’s Volleyball Champions League : Day Three – Resilience, Relief and Regret:

PAD Stay Perfect, Litto Find a Win, Cameroon Sports Stumble Again

Saturday’s third round of group matches produced the full spectrum of emotions for Cameroon, from quiet relief to cautious optimism, with a shade of real concern thrown in for good measure.

Port Autonome de Douala showed they are more than capable of grinding through adversity. Burundi’s Rukinzo proved stubborn enough to take a set off them, which may well have been the most interesting thing that happened to PAD all week. The Douala club responded by winning the next three, closing out a 3-1 victory with set scores of 22-25, 25-23, 25-21 and 25-15. Three wins from three. The bande à Boyomo, as their faithful call them, were setting the standard in Pool D and doing so with the sort of consistency that tends to attract attention at tournaments like this.

Litto Team found some much-needed relief against Zimbabwe’s Black Rhinos. After back-to-back defeats, the coastal club finally produced the performance their supporters had been hoping for, winning 3-0 with sets of 25-23, 25-23 and 25-14. It was neat and composed when it needed to be, and the final set in particular suggested a team that had rediscovered its rhythm. Two wins from their remaining two matches would still be required to extend their campaign, but at least the possibility was alive again.

Cameroon Sports’ afternoon was the one that left a lingering worry. Kepler, the Rwandan club playing on home soil with home support, proved a genuinely awkward opponent. The Cameroonian side showed enough in the third set, winning it 28-26 in a passage of play that had real quality from both sides. But Kepler took the match 3-1, and Cameroon Sports found themselves sitting with one win from three outings. The mathematics were unforgiving. Win the next two, or go home.