Chennai: Calicut Heroes secured the top position in the league stage of the third season of the Prime Volleyball League (PVL) with a dominant 15-13, 15-13, 15-12 win over the Chennai Blitz at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, here on Sunday. Chennai Blitz were knocked out of the competition with the loss, and Mumbai Meteors booked the final spot in the Super 5s.
Calicut Heroes relied early on Mohan Ukkrapandian to set up the attacks, and he tricked Chennai by passing the ball to his middle blockers Danial and Vikas. Chennai counter-attacked with Dhilip spiking from Zone 2. Joel's super served helped Blitz, but Player of the Match Jerome Vinith's fiery spikes kept the game levelled. The Calicut skipper rocked Blitz's defence and Calicut Heroes took an early lead.
Ukkra kept passing the ball to Jerome with the Calicut skipper breathing fire with his attacks. Perotto started serving aggressively and Calicut maintained their momentum. Despite moments of brilliance from Joel and Dhilip, Chennai found it hard to tackle Calicut's relentless attacks. With Vikas' all-round play from the middle, Calicut took control. An untimely injury to libero Rama forced Chennai to bring on Praba, and Calicut immediately began targeting the substitute libero with aggressive serves.
An insipid Chennai defence struggled to tackle Jerome's threat, but the home side showcased their fighting spirit in spades. But Jerome was unstoppable on the night and helped his side close out the game in straight sets.
