PVL 2023: Calicut Heroes soar to table top with dominating win over Hyderabad Black Hawks

M Ashwin Raj was the star for Calicut.

Calicut Heroes picked up their second win of Prime Volleyball League 2023 at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday. With M Ashwin Raj and Jerome Vinith leading the scoring charts, the Calicut Heroes beat the Hyderabad Black Hawks 15-14, 15-12, 15-11, 4-15, 15-14. Ashwin was named the Player of the Match.

With the threat of Jerome Vinith and Jose Antonio Sandoval looming, Hyderabad began cautiously, focusing on avoiding block errors. Setter Lal Sujan kept providing the ball to skipper Guru Prashanth as Hyderabad built pressure on Calicut's blockers.

The more Hyderabad Black Hawks attacked the middle, the more Calicut Heroes skipper Matt Hilling faltered with serve reception. But the tide shifted when Calicut switched the game towards the sidelines, and suddenly the Hawks had no answers to Hilling's blocks and Vinith spikes.  

Hyderabad's struggles with blocks continued on the night. To make matters worse, spike errors from Hemanth and John further proved costly for Hyderabad.

Sandoval became more dominant in the middle, as he not only started scoring block points but also started setting up Vinith and Ashwin for spikes. With accurate counter-attacking shots, Ashwin kept up the pressure on the Black Hawks. Hilling strategized well to keep Lal Sujan away from the ball, so he could not provide for Guru.

Trent found a footing late in the game as he started matching Sandoval block-for-block. But it was too little, too late for Hyderabad, and Calicut won the contest 4-1 win to climb to the top of the table.

Mumbai Meteors will be up against Bengaluru Torpedoes, while Kolkata Thunderbolts will be up against Kochi Blue Spikers at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium on the final match day of the Bengaluru leg of the RuPay Prime Volleyball League from 1900 hrs IST on Sunday, 12th February 2023.