Day 1: Wrap Up of the Women’s Matches played at UKZN’s Howard College Campus Sports Hall, Durban
TUT, the winners of the 2021 Champions Cup suffered a set back in the opening set
against minnows DUT when they were defeated by 23-25 margin. The win gave the
Durban outfit renewed hope of upsetting the defending champions. Brushing aside their narrow defeat (23-25) to DUT, TUT stepped up a few gears and blasted their way past DUT’s defence at the net to post a resounding 25-11; 25-16;
25-8 win.
Arguably the match of the day was the contest between TUKS, the 2021 Champions
Cup silver medallists and Predators from Durban. The Pretoria ladies went on to
clinch victory with a 25-11; 24-26; 21-25; 25-16; 15-13 score line. Despite losing the 2nd and 3rd sets narrowly TUKS stuck to their game plan relying on their excellent team work to claw their way back into contention. A spirited fight back saw the Pretoria team register a well deserved 25-16 4 th set win. After having levelled matters (2-2) the ‘’do or die’’ deciding 5 th set became an explosive encounter ending in favour of TUKS by a 15-13 margin.
Kamplits of Limpopo who are tipped to reach the podium as medallists registered comfortable wins in the 1st and 2 nd sets (25-11; 25-16) against KZN’s Butterflies who hail from the Umkhanyekhude, near the Mozambique border. Playing competitively since December 2021 Butterflies made huge strides under FIVB Level 1 coach,
Mayenziwe Buthelezi. Butterflies trojan efforts to snatch a set against the high riding
Kamplits earned them a 25-21 3 rd set victory.However, Kamplits wrapped up the match with a 25-19 win in the 4th set.
KZN’s top women’s team UKZN sent KSST reeling in defeat in double quick time
when they posted a 25-9; 25-10; 25-14 win to make their intentions quite clear that
they will be a force to be reckoned with in the 2022 Champions Cup.
In an all KZN clash Butterflies and Kuvuki’s first set was tightly contested. It was
Butterflies who were quick to capitalise on attacking opportunities to seal the set with
a 25-23 margin. The next two sets went in favour of Butterflies as they closed
proceedings with a 25-16; 25-21 score.
The TUKS versus VUT match ended in favour of TUKS as VUT did not honour the
fixture.
The match between past champions UWC and the 2021 Champions Cup gold
medallists was a delight to watch for the fans. Relying heavily on their experience at
this level of competition the Cape Town team won the 1st two sets 25-21 and 25-23. TUT realised that winning the 3rd set will be crucial to their survival in the game. The hard fought 3 rd set went in their favour by a ‘nervous’ 26-24 win. The crowd-pleasing 4th set was snatched by UWC by a 28-26 margin.
The DUT team suffered back to back defeat when they lost in straight sets, 25-14;
25-12; 25-14 to fellow student team UKZN. Setting their sights on a podium place UWC won the 1st two sets by a comfortable margin, 25-15; 25-13 against KSST from KZN. UWC were faced with a sudden
upsurge in the KSST’s attack and blocking strategy which could have given them a well-deserved win in the 3rd set. Once again UWC’s main attack force posted a 25-23 win to remain undefeated midway through the robin stage.
In the final match of the opening day ,tournament favourites Kamplits fought fiercely
to win the 1st set by a 25-23 score. It seemed that Predators lost concentration in the
2 nd set as they slumped to a 25-14 loss. Capitalising on Kamplits unforced errors
Predators managed to win the 3rd set with a 25-18 score. Stamping their authority on
the game again, Kamplits overcame their loss by firing on all cylinders to capture the
4th set with a 25-11 score line.