PVL 2023: Kolkata Thunderbolts defeat Kochi Blue Spikers to make it hat-trick of wins, reclaim top spot

The defending champions dropped just one set.

Kolkata Thunderbolts continued their winning run in Prime Volleyball League 2023 after they defeated the Kochi Blue Spikers 15-9, 15-11, 15-14, 15-11, 12-15 at the Koramangala Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday to pick up their third consecutive victory. Rahul was named the Player of the Match.

Banking on the middle blockers, the Kolkata Thunderbolts' went soft from the service line with Ashwal Rai and Deepesh Kumar Sinha putting on blocks. With Kochi's defence line struggling, Vinit Kumar and Rahul made the most of it and started making 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. The reception from libero Hari Prasad BS further helped the Thunderbolts as he kept making brilliant passes. 

A couple of errors from Vinit allowed Abhinav and George Antony to begin Kochi's resistance. But Cody and Deepesh shut down the doors on Spikers' momentum.

An under-pressure Kochi made errors as Walter Da Cruz Neto could not find any rhythm. Cody and Deepesh worked in tandem in the middle, putting on powerful blocks, while Janshad kept setting up Ashwal and Rahul for spikes.

Communication improved between middle blockers Walter and Abhinav and Kochi received a small ray of hope. But Rahul made back-to-back super serves to dent Spikers' hopes and Kolkata Thunderbolts picked a 4-1 win to climb back to the top of the table.

Hyderabad Black Hawks will be up against Kochi Blue Spikers at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium on the opening day of the Hyderabad leg of the RuPay Prime Volleyball League from 1900 hrs IST on Wednesday, 15th February 2023.