Kolkata Thunderbolts shrugged off early blues to record a 13-15, 15-11, 15-13, 15-8, 10-15 win over Kochi Blue Spikers in the Prime Volleyball League (PVL) championship at GMC Balayogi Stadium (Gachibowli) here on Wednesday.
This win means Hyderabad Black Hawks will take on Ahmedabad Defenders in the first semifinal on Thursday and Thunderbolts meets Calicut Heroes in the second semifinal on Friday.
Blue Spikers, already knocked out of contention and playing for pride, started off well too, winning the first set with central blocker G. Dushyanth, Abdul Raheem, setter G.S. Prashant and Cody Coldwell playing well.
In the second set, Thunderbolts was up against a spirited attack led by Raheem with solid support from Prashant and T.R. Sethu but Thunderbolts was equal to the situation in the tense final moments to clinch that set.
Blue Spikers was unfortunate to see Dushyant suffer a knee injury and carried off the court with the scoreline reading 4-2 in Kochi’s favour in the third set. With Kochi leading 11-9, Thunderbolts won the first super point as Cody served into the net and it clinched the second super point too with Ashwal showing his class.
Even though Ashan's spike saw Kochi level the scores 13-all, Vinit Kumar came up with a telling spike and to the dismay of Kochi, Sethu spiked out to hand over the set.
In the fourth set, Thunderbolts had a far easier outing with K. Rahul coming up with big serves, U. Janshad excelling as a setter and as always player of the match Vinit producing the finishing touches to help the team clinch the set and the match.
The result: Kolkata Thunderbolts bt Kochi Blue Spikers 13-15, 15-11, 15-13, 15-8, 10-15
Thursday’s match: 1st semifinal: Hyderabad Black Hawks vs Ahmedabad Defenders - 7 pm.
PLAYGROUNDS
PLAYGROUNDS
ON STAGE
- CONNECT WITH US
- Get sportstar app on
Comments
SHARE