Cameroon’s Under-18 girls opened their campaign on Thursday with a 3-straight-sets defeat to hosts Egypt, going down 25-14, 25-11, 25-15 against the continent’s strongest side in the category. It wasn’t the start they wanted, but it did not leave the coaching staff worried either.
Egypt came into the match as the team to beat in African youth volleyball, and Cameroon knew it. Donald Nsounfon’s Lioncelles walked into the gymnasium with plenty of confidence and no shortage of determination, but confidence only carries a side so far against opposition with that much experience.
The first set set the tone. Cameroon competed, but the Egyptians, sharper and more composed under pressure, closed it out 25-14.
Nsounfon tried to find the right words to lift his players heading into the second set. It didn’t quite land. Kimora and her teammates struggled to convert in attack, leaving gaps between the lines that a side like Egypt simply doesn’t forgive. Issa Nada and company pounced, taking the set 25-11.
There was a flicker of resistance in the third. Camille Djackao threw herself into one defensive action after another, digging out balls that looked lost, and for a while it seemed Cameroon might drag the set into a real contest. It wasn’t enough. Egypt closed out the match 25-15.
A 0-3 defeat, then, and on paper that might raise a few eyebrows back home. But talk to the staff, and you get a different picture. Addressing his players afterwards, the coach was reassuring, telling the squad he was genuinely satisfied with how they’d performed against one of the best organised teams on the continent. He asked them to relax and reset before the next match.
The players didn’t need telling twice. True to form, they turned the volume up on the way back to the hotel, and by all accounts it was a thoroughly festive evening despite the scoreline.
