Spartan, CNS Spikers Dominate 2022 National Volleyball Leagues

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By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON

Several dignitaries were on ground to watch the climax of the National Divisions One and Two Leagues, of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), which second phase  ended at the Indoor Gymnasium Hall of the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna on Friday morning.

After an exciting week of action, Spartans Spikers of Yola and Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Spikers  emerged champions of the 2022 National Division 1 Volleyball League in the men and women’s categories respectively.

With the victory, Spartans Spikers of Yola and Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS) have gained promotion to the Nigeria Volleyball League 1 in the men’s category while Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Spikers and LifeCamp VC of Abuja have both been promoted to next year’s Nigeria Volleyball Premier League.

In the men’s Division 1 final table, Spartans Spikers garnered a total of 26 points to finish top  and were closely followed by Nigeria Immigration Service with 25 points at the second spot. 

Despite a not too impressive start, UCEM of Enugu placed third  with 18 points, while JVC of Bauchi remained in the Division 1 with 14 points, sitting in fourth place.

Caliphate Spikers gathered four points to occupy fifth place, while ABM of Katsina struggled to get three  points; settling for the bottom of the table.

Chief of Naval Staff (CNS Spikers) had a clean slate, maintaining an unbeaten record on  the women’s table standing with a total of 30 points; LifeCamp VC of Abuja settled for second position with 20 points while youngsters Anambra Angels had 17 points to retain third position.

Olalomi Queens of Offa and Bayonet Spikers of Jaji occupied 4th and 5th positions with 12 and 7 points respectively, while Yelwa Spikers of Bauchi were 6th position with seven points.

For the Male Division Two, Chief of Naval Staff (CNS Spikers) finished top to emerge champions of the 2022  League and have gained promotion to the National Division 1 Volleyball League after amassing  a total of 30 points.

In second place was  G-Ranks Spikers with 16 points, Adamawa Spikers were third  with 13 points; Bayonet Spikers of Jaji placed fourth  with 12 points, while Sword VC are fifth  with 0 points.

In the individual award in Division 1 (Men), the Most Valuable Player (MVP) was won by Manfred Sunday (UCEM of Enugu), Best Libero- Silas Ukpong ( Nigeria immigration service ), Best Attacker– Goodluck Anyasodike (Nigeria immigration service), Best Server- Victor Yusuf (Spartan Spikers), Best Blocker- Eliphas Yusuf (Spartan Spikers) and Best Setter- Sunday Illiya (Spartan Spikers)

In the individual award for Division 2 (men), the Most Valuable Player (MVP)- Abdulaziz Aliyu (CNS Spikers), Best Libero– Precious Peter (CNS Spikers), Best Attacker- Moses Kuma (Adamawa Spikers), Best Server- Japheth Japheth (G-Ranks Spikers), Best Blocker- Kingsley Onu (CNS Spikers) and Best Setter- Elisha Anedi (CNS Spikers)

 For the individual award in Division 1 (women), Most Valuable Player (MVP)- Ifunanya Udeagbala (Anambra Angels), Best Libero- Maryam Usman (CNS Spikers), Best Attacker- Jessica Terwese (CNS Spikers), Best Server- Pamela Bawa (Olalomi Queens), Best Blocker- Amina Akande (CNS Spikers) and Best Setter- Mary Ishaku (LifeCamp).

Speaking at the finals and presentation that lasted from Thursday night through to the early hours of Friday, President of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF) Engr. Musa Nimrod commended the high spirit of all the teams that participated and urged them to sustain the tempo.

He lamented however that the lack of sponsors is really hampering the activities of the Federation but assured that the Federation will not relent in it’s efforts towards the development of Volleyball in the country and making Nigeria proud across the shores of this country.

“Next year, 2023 Nigeria has three major championships to participate which include African Youths Games in Egypt,  U-19 boys World  championship and the African Games in Accra Ghana. So far so good, a national training program has since begun and was designed and conducted by Coach Alex Boskovic who aimed to step up the techniques of the game in the play systems of our various teams. 

“We call on all players and coaches to take advantage of this opportunity to fully cooperate with the Federation and enjoy these programs within this period of Volleyball recalibration in Nigeria. 

Our outermost gratitude goes to the stakeholders out there who supported our teams in different forms. We look forward to more collaboration as we work towards corporate sponsors and support for our activities. 

Also speaking, the Coordinator of the CNS Spikers, Commodore James Aliyu Pindar said it was  well deserved victories, brought about by hard work and preparation.

“When we started from the beginning, right from when this administration came on board, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, CFR, clearly came with a  mandate to reposition sports because of lack of activities over the years, we started by calling back our players to camp and started to participate in events, based on our performance, our girls represented Nigeria in Tunisia, today, you can see the quality of what we have -both male and female categories have won the leagues division 1& 2.

“And we give gratitude to the Chief of Naval Staff for the motivation, encouragement, and all the logistics and you can see the quality of young players we have brought at least to give them hope and to also know that there is a prospect in playing this game, volleyball”.

Commodore Pindar said the CNS Spikers female Volleyball Club has now qualified to play in the premier league while their male counterparts moved to National League Division One targeting the apex national league.

” We are still going to beef up the teams further and I can bet you that when we get there none of the other teams can stand us”.

Some notable dignitaries sighted by our correspondent included Commander Infantry Corps Nigerian Army,  Major General Vincent Ezugwu, President of NVBF, Engineer Musa Nimrod, Director of Sports Administration Kaduna State, Mr. Yusuf Joshua Yamai, Chairman Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Kaduna State, Comrade Isaiah Benjamin  and CEO Wadson Sports International, Mr. Ogbonna Wadson.

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