PVL 2024: Delhi Toofans beats Bengaluru Torpedoes in a topsy-turvy contest

There wasn’t a dull moment in the contest that had the lead changing hands frequently, but Delhi held its nerve in the final moments of every set.

Janshad. U (right white jersery) of Delhi Toofans Defenders puts it past the Bengaluru Torpedoes. | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam / The Hindu

Delhi Toofans scripted a confident 15-13, 18-16, 17-15 win over Bengaluru Torpedoes in a Super 5 contest of the Prime Volleyball League (PVL) at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Monday.

There wasn’t a dull moment in the contest that had the lead changing hands frequently, but Delhi held its nerve in the final moments of every set.

It was attacker S. Santhosh who enabled Delhi to take the lead in the first set. Trailing 5-6, Santhosh took four points at a stretch, first with a Super Serve (2 points) followed by two more. From thereon, Delhi maintained the lead with Lazar Dodic, Daniel Aponzo producing telling smashes and libero K. Anand diving to pick up near-dead balls. Bengaluru then fought back to 14-13 from 13-10, but attacker Thomas Alan Heptinstall’s serve went well wide gifting the first set to Delhi.

The second set was very close with Bengaluru fighting tooth and nail. In fact, it saved four set points with attackers T.R. Sethu and Heptinstall producing winners. However, at 16-17, Heptinstall’s crosscourt smash went wide.

With relentless attacks, Delhi took a 3-1, 9-6 lead in the third set. Sethu, who was inconsistent with his attacks earlier finally got most of them right, and Mujeeb’s blocks were excellent as Bengaluru earned a setpoint at 15-14 but couldn’t capitalise on it.

Later in another Super 5 match, Calicut Heroes fought back in style after losing the first set to down Mumbai Meteors 13-15, 15-10, 15-6, 15-12. After a surprising loss in the first set, Calicut displayed a brilliant array of attacking shots from skipper Jerome Vinith and Chirag Yadav to win the remaining three sets quite comfortably.