Hyderabad Black Hawks recorded its second win from four games defeating Chennai Blitz 15-14, 15-11, 15-14, 15-7, 15-13 in the RuPay Prime Volleyball League championship at the GMC Balayogi Stadium (Gachibowli) here on Sunday.
It was Blitz who seemed in a hurry in the first set, taking a 8-3 lead thanks to the spiking prowess of Bruno da Silva and Naveen Raja Jacob with G.S. Akhin doubling up as a blocker and attacker. They helped Blitz lead 13-8 but Hawks scripted a remarkable comeback.
Outstanding
Once Bruno's serve went out with Blitz at 13-8, Hawks seized the opening as attacker S.V. Guru Prasanth, who was outstanding right through, and setters Vipul Kumar, George Antony and S. Praful starred as they clinched the first set.
In the second set, the Chennai team took a 10-7 lead again but it was obvious the defence was a bit confused and G.R. Vaishnav was off-colour.
On the other hand, Guru continued with his awesome power and Vipul and Amit Gulia made their presence felt in the blocks and also set up beautifully.
Unstoppable
In the third set at eight-all, Hyderabad won a super point thanks to the double-block of Guru and Praful and the two were simply unstoppable.
Suddenly, even the Blitz attack fell apart as it ran into the solid Hawks’ defence manned by Vipul, Praful and Jobin Varghese which saw the host win the third set and clinch the issue.
This was Blitz’ third straight defeat in three matches.
The results: Hyderabad Black Hawks bt Chennai Blitz 15-14, 15-11, 15-14, 15-7, 15-13.
Monday’s match: Calicut Heroes vs Bengaluru Torpedoes, 7 p.m.
