Calicut Heroes maintain unbeaten run in PVL

Kochi, Feb 13 (PTI) Calicut Heroes maintained their unbeaten run in the RuPay Pro Volleyball League, defeating Ahmedabad Defenders 4-1 here Wednesday.

Skipper Jerome Vinith was the leading scorer for Calicut with 17 points (14 spikes, 1 block and a super serve). Ahmedabad's highest scorer was Novica Bjelica who scored 8 points (5 spikes and 3 blocks).

It was an interesting start to the match as Ahmedabad nosed ahead with a 5-3 lead owing to two errors from Calicut and three points scored by Novica Bjelica and Victor Sysoev.

But Calicut showed why they were table-toppers pulling back things together and taking the lead at 8-6 at the first Technical Time Out (TTO).

At 12-10, Calicut looked on their way to win the set but Ahmedabad called for a Super Point and converted on Calicut's serve to level the equation. The last few points were hard fought and it looked like anyone's set till 14-14. It was finally a spike by Paul Lotman which won the set for Calicut 15-14.

In the second set, Ahmedabad yet again went into an early lead but as it was the case in the previous set Calicut came back to level it 5-5.

Ahmedabad were determined not to fall behind and went into the TTO an 8-6 lead. Calicut called for a Super Point at 6-9 and converted to close the gap to 8-9. Ahmedabad extended the lead even further as they went to 13-10. At 14-10, Ahmedabad had their first set point but could only seal the deal at 15-11 when Vipul Kumar's spike went out.

Winning the second set seemed to have given Ahmedabad the momentum as they led 5-2 displaying good attack and defence. Calicut was in no mood to let Ahmedabad run away with the lead and levelled the score at 7-7.

Ahmedabad somehow entered the TTO with a point advantage. After the TTO, it was a neck-and-neck battle.

Ahmedabad called for a Super Point at 10-11 but failed to convert as Lotman's spike was too hot to handle. Calicut won the set as Ajith Lal closed it 15-11 with an inch perfect spike. Calicut led 2-1 in the match.

The last set wasn't much of a competition as Calicut won it 15-8