Hyderabad: The defending Champions of Prime Volleyball League, Kolkata Thunderbolts’ winning streak came to an end. Calicut Heroes defeated the Kolkata Thunderbolts with a scoreline of 15-14, 7-15, 15-11, 13-15, 15-13.
AS ADVERTISED! 🤯
The CHEMBADA roar with @CalicutHeroes digging deep to defeat @KolThunderBolts 🔥#KTBvCH #PVL2023 #RuPayPrimeVolley #AsliVolleyball pic.twitter.com/Aee0Oz2mtF
— Prime Volleyball (@PrimeVolley) February 16, 2023
Jerome led a triple-man block that provided Calicut Heroes the early advantage. With Jose Antonio Sandoval’s threat looming, Kolkata skipper Ashwal Rai needed to be alert. Targeting Cody Caldwell from the service line, Calicut tried to prevent the Thunderbolts’ attacker to get a say. Spreading the game wide, Jerome closed out Kolkata’s attacks and Calicut took control.
𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗼𝗱: @CalicutHeroes’ boss Kishor Kumar 🕺#KTBvCH #PVL2023 #RuPayPrimeVolley #AsliVolleyball pic.twitter.com/OWASIhS4tc
— Prime Volleyball (@PrimeVolley) February 17, 2023
Ashwal and Vinit started to exert more of an influence, thanks to Rahul’s service line magic. The defending champs found a way back into the game, and Calicut captain Matt Hilling was bewildered. In an effort to keep the game open, Kolkata started serving directly at Jerome, but the Thunderbolts committed a few serve errors as a result. Calicut was able to stay in the game because of Jerome’s offensive and Mohan Ukkrapandian’s passes.
As things became heated, Rahul and setter Hariharan started combining to start the Thunderbolts’ resistance. Mohan continued to position Jerome for spikes and became a crucial component of Calicut’s formula. But, Vinit’s ferocious serves gave Cody a chance to speak up from the centre, and the nail-biting struggle continued until the very end.
𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 💫#NeverGiveUp #EbarAbarJitbeBangla #RuPayPrimeVolley pic.twitter.com/4Sbkvuzx4A
— KolkataThunderbolts (@KolThunderBolts) February 17, 2023
The duel between Rahul’s assaults and Ashwin’s blocks eventually emerged from the game of razor-thin margins. Hariharan began preparing Ashwal for spikes. Yet in the last second of the match, Jerome once more turned the tables with strong serves to give his team a thrilling victory.
Vinit, who plays as a Universal, said after the game and considered what went wrong, “We made some mistakes, which cost us the game. We will go back and learn from what we did wrong during the match and improve upon them in our next game.”
