Hyderabad Black Hawks came from behind to beat the Bengaluru Torpedoes 15-13, 14-15, 9-15, 15-10, 15-12 in the second season of the Prime Volleyball League at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad on Tuesday. SV Guru Prashanth was named Player of the match.
With Trent O’Dea leading defence, Hyderabad began strongly. As Trent kept blocking Tsvetanov, skipper Pankaj Sharma and Ibin Jose took Bengaluru’s attacking responsibilities and made important spikes. When Lal Sujan started setting up Hyderabad attackers for spikes, the topsy-turvy contest turned even more unpredictable.
Sujan started running the show from the middle and started involving his captain Guru in attacks and Hyderabad took control. Sethu TR’s serves kept rattling Hyderabad and Bengaluru found an opening. With Jose’s attacks, Bengaluru levelled the playing field.
Guru started testing Bengaluru’s defence with hard spikes. As Tsvetanov struggled to create an impact, Ibin’s responsibilities increased. As Mujeeb made his presence felt from the service line, and Alireza Abalooch began making spikes, the tables turned and the Torpedoes took charge.
Changing strategies, Hyderabad sent Carlos Zamora in the middle to add an additional attacker in the mix, taking the pressure off Guru. With unforced errors on consecutive super points, Bengaluru opened the door for Hyderabad to get back into the match again.
Tsvetanov came to the party in the do-or-die final set and started testing Bengaluru’s defence. As the nervy thriller went right down to the wire, Guru kept the Black Hawks in the hunt and John Joseph closed out the match with powerful blocks and Hyderabad won the five-set thriller.
Calicut Heroes will be up against Chennai Blitz at the Regional Sports Centre (Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium) on the first day of the Kochi leg at 7 PM onwards on Friday, February 24, 2023.
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