Both teams had already been assured of progression to the semi-final stage after winning both of their opening matches without losing a set.

Egypt earned the early breakthrough in the match, battling  into a 19-15 lead in first set and were not disrupted by their opponents calling a time out to take the opener 25-18.

Algeria, who have represented Africa at the last two Olympic Games, forced their way back into the tie, edging a tightly fought second set 25–19.

It was a decisive moment in the match as Algeria maintained the momentum to claim the remaining sets 25-20, 25-23 to win the contest.

As Algeria and Egypt were battling for the top two positions, Botswana earned a 22-25, 25–21, 25–19, 10–25, 15-11 win over Uganda to end third in the group.

Algeria will now meet host country Cameroon after they suffered their first defeat of the competition to Kenya.

Both teams had defeated Tunisia in their opening matches but All-Africa Games champions Kenya were the dominant team in the contest, winning the first two sets 25-20 and 25-17.

Cameroon briefly clawed their way back into the match, securing the third set 25-20 before the Kenyans regained control and won the next set 25-9 to win the tie.

Kenya will now meet Egypt in the last four as the race for the sole qualification berth reaches the crucial knock-out stage.

The second and third placed teams from the competition will earn a place at an intercontinental qualifier due to be held in the period from May 14 to June 5.

Lying in wait are Colombia and Puerto Rico, the third placed teams from the South American and North, Central America and Caribbean qualifiers respectively.

Six countries have already qualified for the women's competition at Rio 2016.

Hosts Brazil have already been joined by China, Serbia, Russia, Argentina and the United States.