47th African Men’s Volleyball Champions League : Day Two – Character Shown, Dreams Fading

Cameroon Sports Bounce Back While Litto Team Hit a Wall

Friday at the BK Arena and the Petit Stade brought sharply different fortunes for the Cameroonian clubs, and by the time the evening matches concluded, the group stage picture had shifted considerably.
Port Autonome de Douala were simply magnificent. Coming off their hard-fought opening victory, Beyegue’s men appeared to shift gears entirely against Cape Verde’s Atletico do Mindelo. The sets went 25-12, 25-11, and 25-10, a statement performance that answered any lingering questions about their readiness. Audelin Pokem and his teammates played with the kind of authority that separates the teams who belong at this level from those still finding their feet. With two wins from two, PAD were already knocking on the door of the second round.

Cameroon Sports, to their considerable credit, did not let Thursday’s humbling linger. AS Injis of Ivory Coast provided the opposition, and the match turned into a proper contest, running to four sets before Cameroon Sports prevailed 3-1 with scores of 21-25, 25-15, 25-20 and 27-25. Dropping the first set could easily have unravelled a younger or less resilient group, but coach Abdoul Karim Cherif’s players responded with clarity and composure. It was the kind of win that tells you something about a team’s character.

Litto Team’s evening, though, was a quieter and more difficult story. APR, the Rwandan military club, are well organised, technically disciplined and thoroughly at home in Kigali. Against that kind of opponent, Litto needed everything to click. It did not. Despite clear effort from Wilsogue Sogue’s players, the club went down 0-3, with sets of 17-25, 18-25 and 22-25. Two losses from two matches. The road to the second round had narrowed to something close to a path.