Calicut Heroes also undefeated as Rupay Prime Volleyball League Powered by A23 gets underway
Kolkata Thunderbolts celebrate
Reigning champions Kolkata Thunderbolts started the defence of their Prime Volleyball League title in the best possible way, winning all three of their matches in the first phase of the season, which took place over the last nine days in the city of Bengaluru. The Indian professional league’s regular season is contested in a unique format, with all matches played in five sets to 15 points.
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In the season opener on February 4, the Thunderbolts won the first three sets against hosts Bengaluru Torpedoes, only to allow their opponents to win the next two. With 31-year-old opposite Vinit Kumar leading the way with 13 points, the squad from Kolkata celebrated a 3-2 (15-11, 15-11, 15-14, 10-15, 14-15) victory, garnished with a total of five serving points against none for the home team. The Torpedoes’ new Bulgarian addition, outside hitter Tsvetelin Tsvetanov produced the very first point of the season with a successful spike, while opposite Jose Ibin was Bengaluru’s leading scorer with 12 points, including five kill blocks.
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Kolkata were more emphatic in their next two games, but lost the fifth sets on both occasions to stop short of winning three points with a 5-0 whitewash. On Wednesday, the Thunderbolts defeated Hyderabad Black Hawks by 4-1 (15-13, 15-7, 15-9, 15-12, 8-15). Vinit Kumar was once again the best scorer of the match with 15 points, registering an ace and a 78% success rate in attack, and earned the Player of the Match nomination. His teammates, K Rahul and Rai Ashwal impressed with their blocking efforts. Rahul produced five stuffs towards a match tally of 13 points, while Ashwal added three kill blocks towards a total of 12 points. Guru Prashanth made 14 points for Hyderabad. By the end of the week he had tallied a total of 44 points in three matches to lead the best scorers’ ranking of the league.
On Sunday, in the last match on the Bengaluru programme, the Thunderbolts mastered a 4-1 (15-9, 15-11, 15-14, 15-11, 12-15) victory over Kochi Blue Spikers with Rahul hammering out 17 points, including five blocks and three aces, to emerge as his team’s best and the league’s second best scorer so far on 39 points. His record includes 13 stuffs, which puts him on top of the best blockers’ chart of the first tournament. Opposite…
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