Calicut Heroes defeated U Mumba Volley 3-0 (15-12, 15-9, 16-14) in the semifinal of the inaugural Pro Volleyball League here on Friday and become the first team to reach the final.
Skipper Jerome Vinith led the scoring for Calicut with 12 points (10 spikes and 2 serves) whereas Vinit Kumar was the leading scorer for U Mumba with 7 points (4 spikes and 3 blocks).
The first set started with Calicut taking the early advantage with a 4-2 lead.
Calicut entered the first Technical Time Out (TTO) with a two-point advantage at 8-6.
U Mumba called for a Super Point at 6-9 and successfully converted the same with a Pankaj Sharma spike taking U Mumba within a point's distance.
They soon levelled the score at 10-10, Calicut now called for a Super Point and converted as Sharma misdirected his spike.
The score stood at 12-10 in Calicut's favour.
Calicut emerged on top as Vinit Kumar's second service error handed them the set.
The second set saw a close tussle in the initial stages before Calicut picked up steam and ran away with it.
In the third, U Mumba had a strong start and led 6-4 thanks to three unforced errors by the rival team.
The newly introduced review system came to U Mumba's aid on the 5th point for Calicut. A successful review helped U Mumba establish a 7-4 lead. U Mumba entered the TTO leading 8-5.
They continued in the same way and established a 12-7 lead.
Calicut called for a Super Point and converted to reduce the deficit to 3 and followed it up with a Super Serve by skipper Vinith. U Mumba now only had a point advantage.
Calicut showed why they were unbeaten through the tournament as they levelled the score at 12-12 from 7-12 down. Calicut won the set 16-14.
In the second semifinal, Kochi Blue Spikers will play against Chennai Spartans on Wednesday.
