Olympic gold medallist David Lee shone bright as Kochi Blue Spikers continued their unbeaten run, edging out Ahmedabad Defenders 3-2 in a Pro Volleyball League fixture in Kochi on Wednesday.
Lee scored 10 points (7 spikes, 2 blocks and 1 serve point) as Kochi beat Ahmedabad 10-15, 15-11, 11-15,15-12, 15-12 in a thrilling match. Victor Sysoev was the stand-out performer for Ahmedabad Defenders with 13 points (11 spikes and 2 blocks) to his name.
Ahmedabad started the first set with a flurry of points with Gurinder Singh hitting three spikes and one block to give his team a 4-0 lead. Riding on the momentum Ahmedabad called for a Super Point at 5-1 and converted the same in style as Mandeep Singh landed a Super Serve to increase the lead to 7-1. After trailing at 3-8 at the Technical Time Out (TTO), Kochi came out with fire in their belly clinching two consecutive points. Rightly they called for a Super Point but lost the conversion opportunity owing to a block by Victor Sysoev. Kochi looked as if they will stage a comeback as the lead was narrowed down to 13-10 but Ahmedabad made sure that didn’t happen and closed the set 15-10.
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The second set looked more of a competition as both the teams were matching each other move after move. At 7-7, Kochi called for a Super Point and a won it going into the TTO at 9-7. Kochi continued with their attacking game as David Lee and Andrej Patuc with combined points from spike and serve helped Kochi increase their lead to 14-11. Manu Joseph added the finishing touch with a spike, as Kochi won the set 15-11.
Kochi continued from where they left in the last set as they raced to a 5-2 lead with Lee, Patuc and Joseph again the architects of the lead. Ahmedabad showed resilience and levelled the score at 7-7 but an error at the net by Novica Bjelica gave Kochi a point advantage at TTO. Post TTO, it was a hard-fought battle till 11-11 before Kochi called for a Super Point and Ahmedabad broke their serve to gain the advantage. Immediately, seeing the opening, Ahmedabad called for a Super Point and Sysoev’s well-timed block helped his team win the set 15-11 and a 2-1 advantage in the match.
In the fourth set Ahmedabad really looked positive and went into an 8-4 lead. At 8-4, Ahmedabad called for a Super Point and missed the opportunity. Immediately, Kochi called for a Super Point and converted to level the score at 8-8. Till the very end it looked like anyone’s set before two consecutive points by Kochi at 13-12 helped them close the set at 15-12 and match went into a decider.
In the decider, Kochi looked like running away with the match as they established a 6-1 lead with the help of one super serve and a serve point by Ukkrapandian. Ahmedabad, with their never-say-die attitude, staged a comeback and reduced the deficit to 7-8.
Kochi, which seemed like losing steam, now took the initiative in their hands and a Super Serve by K. Praveen Kumar gave his team a four-point lead at 11-7. Kochi wanting to end the game in a hurry called for a Super Point, but lost the opportunity. The set was heading towards a nail-biting finish with the score at 11-10 in favour of Kochi. In the end, Kochi held on to their nerves as an error on serve by Ranjit Singh gave Kochi the set 15-12 and the match 3-2.
Ukkrapandian was adjudged the player of the match.
(With PTI inputs)