The Hindu : Sport / Volleyball : Kerala women in semifinals

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Kerala women in semifinals

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K.R. Deepak

GOOD SHOW: Railways’ Jhililata Sena lifts the ball as teammate Manu Smrithi watches in the quarterfinal match against Maharashtra on Friday.

VISAKHAPATNAM: Holder Kerala women and runner-up Railways and men’s title-holder Haryana entered the semifinals of the senior National volleyball championships for the ONGC Cup at the Port indoor stadium here on Friday.

Also to make the semifinals were Services and Railways in the men’s section.

Kerala and Railways women will meet last year’s quarterfinalist Karnataka and semifinalist West Bengal respectively in Saturday’s semifinals.

Railways overran Maharashtra 25-7, 25-12, 25-13 and West Bengal had an easy outing against Chandigarh though it lost the second set in extra points as Chandigarh combined well after trailing 10-16.

West Bengal won 25-17, 25-27, 25-21, 25-18.

Haryana, which finished last in the men’s pool A league losing all its matches mainly due to absence of its internationals Sanjay Kumar and Raghuveer Singh, made the semifinals.

Raghuveer Singh joined the team from the quarterfinals qualifying matches and showed his class in Friday’s quarterfinal against Uttarakhand which the team won at 25-18, 19-25, 25-22, 25-19.

Services scored an impressive 25-20, 25-22, 25-22 win over Punjab.

Meanwhile, runner-up Tamil Nadu men entered the semifinals with a 25-22, 25-22, 25-17 win over Karnataka in the last quarterfinal match.

Karnataka managed to lead by a few points in all sets but Tamil Nadu bridged the gap quickly and tool lead. Karnataka made a last ditch effort by levelling the scores at 16 in the third set but Tamil Nadu raced ahead in no time. Tamil Nadu will meet Services in the semifinals on Saturday.

Railways posts win

Earlier, Railways beat Kerala 19-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-15. It meets Haryana in the semifinals, while Services take on the winner of the match between runner-up Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Haryana lost to Uttarakhand in the league phase and though it lost the second set in the quarterfinal, it dominated the match with Lalit supplementing Raghuveer’s efforts in the attack.

Uttarakhand spikers Y. Subba Rao and southpaw Mukhesh Kumar were not as effective as they were in the previous matches.

Railways lost the first set as its blocking was not up to the mark but Pradeep turned the match in its favour from the second set playing a fine attacking game too.

Setter Kapil played his part in the team’s success. Tom Joseph of Kerala was off the colour as the team succumbed without much fight.

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