For years, Cheptil has been in the dark, but it claimed its glory back after defeating the current national volleyball champions, Arnesen Boys, during the Rift-Valley Secondary School Term Two games played at the Bomet Green Stadium on Saturday. With a clear lead of 3-0, former national champions from Nandi County made a comeback.
The Cheptil path to the final was marked with a 3-1 win over St. Patrick Iten from Elgeyo-Marawet, as Arnesen Boys from Trans Nzoia County crushed Uasin Gishu’s Simat High School 3-0 in the other semi-final. Cheptil had been beaten 3-0 by Arnesen in the preliminary rounds and so the win was sweet revenge after several reverses in this competition and preceding ones, having lost 3-0 in Nyahururu last year.
Cheptil head coach Hillary Melly resolved to regain the national and East Africa titles, saying, “We want to get back both the national and East Africa titles.”
The girls’ competition saw current national champions Kesogon Secondary School defend their regional title with a 3-0 victory over past champions AIC Kosirai. The reigning champions from Trans Nzoia county turned on a superlative performance, dismissing Bomet’s Kaboson 3-0 in the semis, as AIC Kosirai from Nandi County reached the final thanks to a similar score over Trinity Mission Girls-Gilgil from Nakuru.
Though Arnesen Boys lost in volleyball, it took the netball title at the Bomet Green Stadium by steamrolling past NYS Secondary School from Nakuru County 63-19 in a very lopsided match. Kabeareng Secondary took the third prize by outdoing Kapkitony 28-15.