If there is a team that has mastered the art of winning not only at home but also on foreign soil, that team is UNIK.
The Rwandan outfit defeated Sky Volleyball Club 3-2 on Sunday to win the 2016 NSSF-KAVC International, their third in four finals.
Led by Ugandan, Daudi Okello, Kavalo Akumuntu and skipper Olivier Ntagengwa, UNIK did get some kind of revenge.
Sky had defeated UNIK (then Inatek) 3-1 in 2014 to win their maiden major title, but the four year old side was not going to be second time lucky despite taking the first set 26-24.
“All glory goes to God, because we came wanting to badly win the title and we managed to come through, it wasn’t easy, Ugandan sides are very strong and sky just proved it,” said UNIK’s coach Dominique Ntawangundi whose side relied on the decent Rwandan contingent, majorly from Rwanda Revenue Authority and Kigali Youth Players for morale.
UNIK bounced back to level the game 25-20.
Kathbert Malinga and Emma Kato who were always the difference in the Sky setup guided the side to 25-20 lead but the duo could do little to seal the title as the Rwandan league champions took command of the fourth winning it 25-9.
Sky’s attempts to bounce back in the tiebreaker yielded no dividend as they lost it 15-11.
At the semifinals, Sky had defeated Nairobi Sports Club 3-2 (17-25, 18-25, 25-27, 25-19, 15-13) while UNIK saw off Sport-S 3-0 (25-16, 27-25, 25-19).