Kochi book berth for play- off stage
Kochi, Feb. 11: Kochi Blue Spikers became the second team to make it to the playoffs with a comeback 3- 2 ( 12- 15, 10- 15, 15- 11, 15- 13, 1510) win over Chennai Spartans in a thrilling encounter on Monday. Prabagaran S was the star of the show tonight for Kochi with 12 points ( 11 spikes and 1 block). Rudy Verhoeff in spite of scoring the maximum points by a player in a match for the season i. e. 20 points ( 17 spikes and 3 blocks) ended on the losing side.
Chennai went into a 13- 8 lead with GS Akhin converting on Kochi’s Super Point. Kochi pulled back, thanks to five errors in the set by Chennai, as they reduced the lead to 11- 13. But Chennai didn’t leave it for late and closed the first set at 15- 12 with a spike from Ruslans Sorokins.
Chennai led 8- 5 at the TTO and were in a different zone converting their Super Point at 10- 7 to go to 12- 7. Immediately, Kochi called for a Super Point and converted but Chennai wrapped up the set 15- 10 to lead 2- 0 in the match.
In the third set Chennai called for a Super Point on Kochi’s serve and converted it with a spike from Rudy Verhoeff to reduce the gap to two points. But unforced errors cost Chennai six points and then Kochi won their Super Point too to pull one back at 15- 11.
In the penultimate set, Chennai called for a Super Point at 7- 9 and converted similarly Kochi converted their Super Point on Chennai’s serve. Kochi was scripting a dramatic comeback as they took the set 1513 even after the best efforts from Chennai to establish parity in the match. With the momentum and crowd on their side Kochi won the set 15- 10 and match 3- 2.