Abuja Nigeria, April 13, 2025 – They made it happen, Zamalek is in the volleyball hall of fame, how do they do it – they beat Ahly 3-1 (29-27, 22-25, 25-20, 25-22) to win the 39th Women’s African Volleyball Club Championship in Abuja.
With a new initiative to punish every single error both teams could be seen wincing and grumbling at every small movement. The punishment regime had taken its toll on AHL as ZMK level 22-22 after trailing behind. It was fast and furious as the teams fought to establish a lead tied at 27-27. AHL made a faults and ZMK continued finding gaps to push ahead for 29-27 set win.
ZMK came back tough and wild to led 5-0, AHL seems to lose their concentration and Zamalek nailed through some great kills forcing AHL to called for an early timeout. It was tight afterwards as AHL scored two points with an ace. Players were diving across the court to save balls and there was plenty of hard spikes. ZMK were up 6-2. ZMK raced ahead and AHL looked defeated. Big hit and a monster block from Tatyana Bokan gave AHL the set win 25-22.
Shell shocked from the second set, ZMK knew that they had to put it behind them and get on positively with the next set. Which they did, taking an early lead and putting much more pressure on the AHL players. With the score at 19-16 confidence were high and a few costly errors from AHL, ZMK took the set 25-20.
To their credit, ZMK blocked very well, giving AHL a new challenge that took time to adjust to in the 4th set. ZMK’s Mariam Metwally went wild to win the set and enthusiastically defended the title they won three consecutively now. Zamalek are worthy champions.