Defending Champions Kolkata Thunderbolts continued their winning run, as they picked up their third consecutive victory in the second season of the RuPay Prime Volleyball League by beating the Kochi Blue Spikers 15-9, 15-11, 15-14, 15-11, 12-15 at the Koramangala Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday. Rahul was named the Player of the Match for his superb performance.
Kolkata Thunderbolts went soft from the service line with Ashwal Rai and Deepesh Kumar Sinha putting on blocks, allowing Vinit Kumar and Rahul to make powerful spikes. Rahul and Cody Caldwell joined Kolkata’s blocking party and Kochi’s spikers Rohit Kumar and Erin Varghese found no space to hit their shots. Hari Prasad BS made brilliant passes to help the Thunderbolts. Cody and Deepesh shut down Kochi’s momentum, while Cody and Deepesh worked in tandem in the middle.
Communication improved between middle blockers Walter and Abhinav, but Rahul made back-to-back super serves to dent Kochi’s hopes and Kolkata Thunderbolts picked a 4-1 win to climb back to the top of the table. Kolkata Thunderbolts team director Mr Sumedh Patodia lauded the team’s performance after it registered an emphatic win over the Kochi Blue Spikers. He said, “Winning three out of three is something phenomenal that the team has achieved.”
