Head coach of Nigeria’s senior women’s Volleyball team, Samuel Ajayi has praised the fighting spirit showed by his players in the 3-1 (25-18, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23) win over Botswana at the Popasy hall in Yaounde, Cameroon.

Nigeria recorded their first win against the South Africans at the ongoing 2020 CAVB Tokyo women’s Volleyball Qualification in Cameroon after losing to Cameroon and Egypt by 3-0 scorelines in their opening games.

“It was a good performance from the team today, we played really well though it was a tough game from Botswana. What I like in my young team is humility, solidarity and fighting spirit,” Ajayi said.

“I am happy we could deal with the danger they posed and being the third match of the qualifiers, it is a joy for us.

“[Botswana] have a good team and unfortunately, we lost the second set which was a shock for us and we had to recover from this and with our attitude, we had to make them tire out to get the result.”

Ajayi resisted the urge to single out a particular player for praise preferring to instead focus on the collective performance of the team and the upcoming match against Kenya.

“I will not single out any player for praise. This is a sweet victory for us and it was only possible by teamwork. Everyone played his part and at the end, we are happy to have won the match.

“However, our focus is now on the match against Kenya tomorrow (Thursday). We will do everything within our powers to give Kenya a good fight.”