Railways and Kerala overcame Karnataka and Services in gruelling five-setters to book a berth in the men’s semifinals of the 63rd senior National volleyball championship here on Friday.
Karnataka was on the verge of creating a major upset when it went 2-1 up against Railways, thanks to some sensible and powerful serving and smart blocking at the net.
After winning the first four points, Karnataka went on to take the first set quite easily before Railways held its nerve to clinch the second 30-28.
The Karnataka players — A. Karthik and K. Ganesha — served with precision and power, leaving Railways with no answers in the third set which it won 25-14.
In the first half of the contest, Railways’ blocking was ineffective. However, in the fourth set, its skipper and blocker Karan Choudhary raised his game as Karnataka failed to replicate its success with its serves in this set. In the decider, Railways kept its cool to progress.
Earlier in the day, Kerala almost lost from a winning position against Services. Though the first set was a close affair, the team from the south enjoyed a slight advantage and went on to wrap it up 27-25.
In the second set, Kerala slipped from 10-10 to 12-18 before a remarkable recovery helped it win the set.
All-rounder Tom Joseph and attacker Jerome Vinith caused the maximum damage as they came up with some big smashes and deft drop shots.
Services staged a comeback, thanks to some inspired performances from blocker P.K. Dinesh and all-rounder V.P. Jishad. At 25-24, Tom Joseph hit a serve long as Kerala failed to close out the match. It went on to lose the set 29-27, missing a few more chances to seal the issue in its favour.
With the momentum behind it, Services clinched the fourth set without much trouble, but attacker K.G. Ragesh landed some powerful smashes to put Kerala in the last four.
TN eases into semifinalsIn the women’s section, Tamil Nadu eased past Punjab in four sets. The host won the first set before losing the second in quick time.
However, the side did not let the minor setback affect it, coming back strongly to take the next two sets. For Tamil Nadu, P. Narmadha and Elizabeth Paul were outstanding, taking full advantage of a Punjab side that looked clueless and lacked coordination.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu too made it to the last four beating Andhra Pradesh in four sets. The defending champions conceded a set for the first time in this tournament.
The local team started off well winning the first set without much trouble but the issues with poor serve raised its ugly head in the second with TN losing four serves consecutively. Combined with some weak defensive work, TN lost the second set, despite fighting back from 17-24 to 23-24. But TN came out tops in the last two sets with some impressive work by blocker G.R Vaishnav.
The results (quarterfinals):
Men: Kerala bt Services 27-25, 25-23, 27-29, 22-25, 15-10; Rajasthan bt Punjab 25-17, 20-25, 26-24, 25-20; Railways bt Karnataka 21-25, 30-28, 14-25, 25-18, 15-11; TN bt Andhra Pradesh 25-22, 23-25, 25-14, 25-20.
Semifinal line-up: Railways vs Rajasthan; Kerala vs TN.
Women: TN bt Punjab 25-15, 16-25, 25-11, 25-15; Railways bt Telangana 24-26, 25-12, 25-14, 25-14; West Bengal bt Haryana 25-21, 25-23, 25-22; Kerala bt Maharashtra 25-10, 25-9, 25-14.
Semifinal line-up: TN vs Railways; Kerala vs West Bengal.
