Nigeria have secured a place in the quarter-finals of the 2026 African Men’s Volleyball Nations Championship in Tunisia after battling back to defeat Algeria 3-2 in their final group game on Thursday
The Zone 3 champions recovered from losing the first and third sets to prevail 23-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-20, 15-12 in a five-set contest.
The victory earned Nigeria a quarter-final ticket and further underlined their resilience in the tournament, with coach Ryan Masajedi praising the players for their response after twice falling behind.
“I am impressed with the way the players picked up after losing the first set. The set was in our hands but the Algerians were lucky it went in their favour,” the Japanese coach said.
“The players have once again shown that they can perform under any circumstances and they picked up after the first set and we ended winning the match.”
Nigeria started strongly but Algeria edged the opening set 25-23. The Nigerians responded in the second, winning 25-19, before the North Africans regained the advantage with a 25-21 victory in the third.The Zone 3 champions refused to surrender, taking the fourth set 25-20 to force a deciding tie-break, which they won 15-12 to complete the comeback.