Sport-S defeat UCU Doves to win first league title in 14 years

Sport-S were crowned champions of the National Volleyball League following a 3-0 win over UCU Doves Sunday night at the Old Kampala Arena.

Benon Mugisha’s charges completed a comeback to win the finals 2-1, having trailed 1-0 at the start.

Saturday’s 3-1 win to level the series handed Sport-S the momentum and quite clearly deflated UCU.

Augustine Odongo had two monster blocks to close the third set and send the Sport-S fans into wild celebrations.

The start was perfect for the Nsambya outfit, who raced to a 14-10 lead to force UCU into a timeout.

Thon Maker was in his element and kept finding his way through the block to lead Sport-S’ offensive charge.

Gideon Angiro well read Setter Marino Oboke’s attempted dump to slice the lead to three (18-15), and Sport-S needed a timeout to sort out things.

And Sport-S were in serious trouble when Gideon Angiro rose from the backcourt to rip through Johnson Rukundo’s block to reduce the deficit to one point (20-19).

The Doves had their noses in front at 23-22, but Sport-S rallied back to close the set 25-23 after Samuel Engwau beat the block.

The second set was barely a contest. An array of errors from the service box and Dickens Otim’s excellent net defence saw Sport-S take the frame 25-14 to establish a 2-0 lead.

With their backs against the wall, the Doves put up a fight in a closely contested third set but failed to establish sufficient leads throughout.

Otim, who replaced Emmanuel Okia in the Sport-S lineup, made the difference with his game reading and ability to stop any of the UCU hard-hitters.

Opposite Nickson Tumusiime chose the wrong timing of the season to go cold and was hooked.

Centres Ian Akampa and Vincent Odeke have also had better days than what was displayed in the decisive game of the finals.

National Volleyball League Finals

Game Three

UCU Doves 0-3 Sport-S (23-25, 14-25, 24-26)

Sport-S win the series 2-1