Rwanda’s APR qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2025 African Volleyball Club Championship going on in Misurata, Libya, after sweeping Kenyan’s General Service Unit (GSU) in three straight sets (27-25, 25-21, 25-19) while Kepler suffered an unfortunate elimination from the competition after shock defeat to Congolese side Espoir Volleyball Club (VCE) on Saturday.
Kepler had a bright start to the competition, registering four wins in five matches before reaching the knockout stage to face the Congolese club. The tournament debutantes’ performance was even promising in the very start of the game as they bagged the first set 25-20.
But, coming in the second set, VCE capitalized on Kepler’s mistakes and easily took the set 25-14 to tie the game. Fidele Nyirimana’s side tried to regain the rhythm of the game, but they struggled to cope with VCE’s dominance as they won the third set 25-21 and the fourth 25-23 to complete the comeback.
In an earlier knockout fixture, Sammy Mulinge’s APR had already advanced to the next stage after seeing off GSU in three sets despite the latter putting up a fight.
The Rwandan champions will now face Libyan club El Etihad in the quarterfinals on Sunday, April 27.
The matchup won’t be an easy one for the army club, as they face a litmus test against the home side which hasn’t yet lost a single match in the tournament.
