CHENNAI, JAN 03,
Tamil Nadu endured a bad start, but finished quite well scripting a 27-25, 25-21, 26-24 win in a Group-A men’s match of the senior National volleyball championships at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here . On the other court, defending champion Railways posted an easy 25-13, 25-13, 25-7 win over Haryana in a Group-A women’s tie.
The scheduled inauguration began one-and-a-half hours late and by the time the TN-Punjab contest began, it was 8.30 p.m.
Both the host and the visitor struggled in the first set primarily because of this reason. Setter and captain M. Ukrapandian commenced the match by serving one wide. By and large, TN couldn’t quite click as a unit as its attackers and blockers erred often.
Universal M. Ashwin Raj was not in his elements, and the team’s main attacker Naveen Raja Jacob couldn’t land his smashes at the right places. Punjab, too was erratic with its blocks, service and attack. Thanks to Lakhbir Singh’s attack in large measure, Punjab managed to stay in the game.
Towards the end of the first set, it was neck-and-neck. At 26-25, TN did well thanks to blocker G.R. Vaishnav who did a wonderful job.
It was a compact TN side that one witnessed in the second set. Ashwin Raj proved his worth, by blocking and attacking, thereby giving his team valuable points. But it was Vaishnav who was largely consistent throughout.
TN took a comfortable 23-17 lead before Punjab won three consecutive points. But a service error by Davinderdeep Singh ensured TN retained the momentum.
The third set witnessed a see-saw battle till 16-15, but TN broke free with wonderful blocking by Vaishnav and Manoj. However, at 25-24, it was an Ukrapandian’s block that got the team the match.
