Ahmedabad Defenders on the threshold of glory

Gets the better of Black Hawks in the first semifinal

Ahmedabad Defenders warded off a spirited challenge from Hyderabad Black Hawks with a 15-13, 15-12, 9-15, 15-12 win to enter the final of the Rupay Prime Volleyball League championship at GMC Balayogi Stadium (Gachibowli) on Thursday.

‘Player-of-the-match’ Shon P. John helped the Defenders break away, after the scores were level quite a few times till eight-all, with some awesome spiking.

Defenders led 10-8 when S.V. Guru Prasanth’s spike fetched Hawks the first super point to level the scores. However, Shon was back in the thick of things clinching the second super point for Defenders at 11-all.

Substitute Hardeep scored a crucial point with Defenders leading 14-13 to ensure his team won the first set.

In the second set, even as there was nothing much to rave about its blocking and star player Angamuthu being off-colour, Defenders still dominated with libero Prabhakaran being superb in the face of a brilliant attack by Hawks’ Guru.

Guru excels

In the third set, Hawks dominated completely thanks to the brilliance of Guru who was just unstoppable, repeatedly picking gaps in the rival defence with captain Vipul Kumar equally efficient as setter.