PVL 2022: Calicut Heroes overwhelm Kochi Blue Spikers, keep knockout hopes alive

Calicut Heroes recorded a scintillating 3-2 (15-12, 15-9, 9-15, 9-15, 15-11) win against the Kochi Blue Spikers at the ongoing Prime Volleyball League (PVL) at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday.

With this win, the Jerome Vinith-led Heroes have kept their chances of making it to the knockouts of the volleyball tournament intact.

Heroes were off to a confident start with the help of skipper Vinith and David Lee to take an 8-6 lead in the first set. The skipper was on a roll as he continued to pull off solid spikes to help the team win a Super Point, take a four-point lead at 13-9 and eventually win the first set at 15-12.

The Spikers tried to bounce back as Erin Varghese and Cody Caldwell produced fabulous spikes to help the team get to 9-6 in the second set. However, skipper Vinith continued his brilliance to help the Heroes gain a 10-9 lead.

The Player of the Match, Ajithlal, then came in to produce brilliant spikes as the Heroes continued to win nine consecutive points to wrap up the second set 15-9.

The Spikers regained their momentum to win the third and fourth set, to tie the game at 2-2.

Varghese managed a brilliant spike as the Spikers dominated the third set at 10-7. Abdul Raheem and Cody Caldwell also contributed to help the team get a five-point lead at 13-8 to eventually wrap up the third set at 15-9 in the third set.

Raheem put the Spikers through to a strong 5-1 start in the fourth set. Caldwell produced a brilliant smash as the Spikers continued to forge ahead to 12-6 and maintained their lead to win 15-9.

Both teams held a close contest to level the scores at 7-7 in the fifth and final set. Meanwhile, Abil Krishnan MP pulled off two crucial spikes to help the Heroes take the lead at 13-10 until Ajithlal came in to help the team wrap up the match at 15-11.

Just like their 3-2 loss against Bengaluru Torpedoes on February 8, the Spikers once again failed to carry forward their lead and eventually gave away the match in the end.

Prime Volleyball 2022 (PVL): February 19 Schedule & Match Timings in IST

Match: Kolkata Thunderbolts vs Ahmedabad Defenders

Date: February 19, 2022 Timings: 7 pm IST

Streaming details:

The Rupay Prime Volleyball League 2022 is being telecast live on SONY TEN 1 (English), SONY TEN 3 (Hindi), SONY TEN 4 (Tamil & Telugu) & SONY TEN 2 (Malayalam) channels while live streaming is available on Sony LIV.