U Mumba Volley register first win

Chennai, Feb. 16: U Mumba Volley won their first match of the Pro Volleyball League and kept their playoff hopes alive beating Chennai Spartans 3- 2 ( 15- 14, 15- 8, 15- 10, 1015,10- 15).

Skipper Dipesh Sinha was the highest scorer for U Mumba with 11 points ( 5 spikes, 2 blocks and 4 serves). Rudy Verhoeff yet again equalled his individual points record of 20 points in a match ( 14 spikes and 6 serves) only to end in the losing cause.

It was a hard- fought battle as both teams knew that it is a crucial game and didn’t allow each other any respite. Chennai Spartans got the first advantage as they went into the first Technical Time Out ( TTO) and mounted to 13- 8 lead. U Mumba called for a Super Point at 8- 13 and won the same. It was the start of a comeback. At 14- 10, it looked like Chennai will win the set but U Mumba closed the gap with the help of three errors by Chennai to eventually win the set 15- 14.

U Mumba came out all guns blazing in the second set as they took a 4- 0 lead. They were riding high on the momentum of the first set. Skipper Dipesh Sinha, Vinit Kumar and Coskovic did bulk of the scoring. The set ended at 15- 8 in their favour as they took a 2- 0 lead in the match

In the third set, from 2- 6 down, Chennai closed the gap to 6- 7. At 9- 11, Chennai called for a Super Point but failed to convert. U Mumba finally won the set 15- 10 and obtained an unassailable 3- 0 lead in the match.

In the penultimate set, Chennai finally opened their account in the match winning the fourth set 1510. The final set ended 15- 10 in Chennai’s favour and the match 3- 2 in U Mumba’s favour.