Chennai, March 16 – Bengaluru Torpedoes brought out their ‘A’ game against the Mumbai Meteors in a do-or-die clash in the Super 5s stage of the third season of Prime Volleyball League, to beat the Mumbai Meteors 15-13, 16-14, 15-10 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, here on Saturday.
Player of the Match Jishnu’s blocks came in handy for the Torpedoes to gain an early advantage, while the Meteors countered the defence through Amit Gulia’s attacks.
Service errors from both teams kept the game level. Coach David Lee’s risky super serve call allowed the Torpedoes to stretch the gap, and Ibin Jose’s spike gave Bengaluru an early lead.
Paulo remained the key for the Torpedoes’ attacks, spreading his passes well to keep the opposition guessing. But Saurabh’s attacks from the middle kept troubling the Torpedoes. Mujeeb started growing in confidence to cancel Mumbai’s attacks. A complex review heated things in the middle. The deadlock was broken with Sethu’s pipe attack and Srajan and Jishnu’s monstrous block gave the Torpedoes a 2-0 lead.
Shubham’s inconsistency in attacks hurt the Meteors, while Bengaluru began involving Jishnu more in attacks, targeting from the middle court. The Bengaluru defence remained on top form through the night, not allowing Mumbai to get easy points. Finally, Thomas Heptinstall closed out the game for the Torpedoes with a super serve.
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