Prime Volleyball 2024: Delhi Toofans beat Ahmedabad Defenders in a five-set thriller, to meet Calicut Heroes in final
Delhi Toofans secured their spot in the grand finale after stunning defending champions Ahmedabad Defenders in the eliminator. They will lock horns with Calicut Heroes in the final at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on March 21, Thursday.
The scoreline in the eliminator read 15-9, 10-15, 10-15, 15-12, 17-15 in favor of Delhi Toofans, who came from behind to win the much-awaited encounter. Serbian attacker Lazar Dodic was the star player of the game with 14 valuable points.
Attacker Santhosh was aggressive in the first set with two amazing attack points to keep Delhi Toofans on top. Though Angamuthu Ramaswamy tried his best to collapse the defense of the opposition for Defenders.
Delhi Toofans secured a 15-9 win in the first set to stun the Ahmedabad Defenders. Thomas, Aponza, Aayush, and Lazar were also heroes with their respective powerful spikes in the initial set of the game.
Though the initial set was dominated by the Toofans, the defending champions Ahmedabad Defenders made a stunning comeback in the second and third sets to bag 10-15 and 10-15 wins in both consecutive sets.
Moving into the details of the second set, Blocker LM Manoj was the wrecker-in-chief with three amazing blocks. He received substantial support from Muthusamy with proper defense. Muthusamy, John Shon, and Max Senica were the aggressors in the attack.
In the third set, Angamuthu Ramaswamy continued his domination with his all-round performance, bagging three attack points and a block point. Shon John was also the top all-rounder with two attack points and a defense point.
Delhi Toofans stage a comeback to eliminate the defending champions
However, Ahmedabad Defenders' dominance came to an end in the third set as Delhi Toofans made a strong comeback to nail 15-12, 17-15 wins in the fourth and final sets of the game to clinch an amazing victory.
Colombia all-rounder Daniel Aponza was the standout player in the fourth set, scalping three attack points while Rohit Kumar bagged an all-round effort with two block points and an impressive powerful spike.
In the fifth and the final set, it was complete domination by Lazar Dodic as he helped Toofans move past the Defenders with excellent six attack points. He received impressive support from Rohit Kumar, Santhosh, and Daniel Aponza in the attacking perspective.