CHENNAI: Mumbai Meteors rocked the Calicut Heroes with a thunderous win in the third season of the Prime Volleyball League, getting past their opponents 15-13, 9-15, 21-19, 15-12, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, here on Wednesday.
Shubham Chaudhary was named the Player of the Match.
The 'hydrogen boy' Ajith Lal gave Mumbai an explosive start but service errors from the Meteors kept Calicut in the game. As Mumbai threatened from the middle, Calicut employed Danial Moatazedi to counter the danger.
Shubham's ace serve pumped up Mumbai as Mohan Ukkrapandian struggled to play the ball freely to his attackers. Shameem helped his side in attacks and Mumbai took the lead.
As Jerome Vinith began firing from the outside, Amit Gulia began testing Calicut's defence. M Ashwin Raj's clever attacks helped the Calicut find their own path to get back into the match. Vikas Maan-led three-man block prevented Amit's pipe attack and the momentum of the game shifted towards Calicut. Luiz Perotto's presence up front further provided Calicut options in attacks, but Shubham's incessant spikes kept Mumbai in the hunt.
Setter Vipul Kumar's passing helped Mumbai as Amit kept hammering powerful spikes. Despite Ukkra's clever play and Chirag Yadav's spikes, the Meteors took control of the game with smarter decisions.
Calicut's bold move to call for a Super Point went wrong as Amit leapt high to deliver a monstrous hit, and Mumbai closed out the game with a Shubham special to hand Calicut their first loss of the season.