PVL 2023: High-flying Chennai Blitz aim to extend winning start against Mumbai Meteors

The Blitz won their first match of season 2, while Mumbai fell to a defeat.

The Volleyball fiesta continues in Bengaluru as the Prime Volleyball League 2023 is well on its way. Friday’s all-important clash will see Chennai Blitz take on new entrants Mumbai Meteors at the Koramangala Stadium. Chennai Blitz secured two points in their season opener against Kochi Blue Spikers in a match that went down to the final set. The clash against Mumbai is their last game in Bengaluru and they will be keen to complete the leg, undefeated.

"Chennai Blitz have won the first match against Kochi Blue Spikers. It was really important for us to win this match because all of us gained confidence from this match. There will be a few players who were new to this format. So it was really important for us to get off to a good start," Pinamma Prashanth, Chennai's setter said.

In their debut season, Mumbai Meteors are yet to open their points tally following a 4-1 defeat at the hands of a clinical Calicut Heroes, they will be hoping to leverage the experience from the loss to earn points. 

Mumbai's outside hitter from the USA, Brandon Greenway, opened up on the errors made by his team and explained how the squad has grown from the first defeat. 

"We came out definitely strong in the first set, and Calicut was a very strong team. So, it was good to come out strong and exactly what we wanted. But then afterward, we made a few errors that hurt us and we watched back the videos to get an understanding of our mistakes. We created our issues, which is better to have than getting beaten by a team that is better. We hurt ourselves more than Calicut Heroes hurt us," Brandon said.

"We need to limit our errors and play our own game, that would be the best way to improve from that," he added.

Prashanth further said that his team has plans in place and will need to execute them on match day. "Mumbai Meteors have an experienced squad and they are doing well. We have been practicing for a couple of days for this encounter, so we have our plans ready. We just need to execute them well during the match," he said.

"We have a good bench strength, so we are quite confident that we will be do well this season," Prashanth added.

With the game yet to be played, Brandon decided to keep his team's strategies for the Chennai game close to his chest. But he did reveal that he is excited to play against a very strong team that picked a solid win in their first outing.

"We watched the game the other night and Chennai Blitz picked up a good win. It's good to see great competition and that's what the league wants competing units. We are excited to play them. Every match is so important in this league. We have to maximise opportunity. I cannot give you too much, but we will hope to slow them down a bit and optimise our attacks. Most of the planning that we have done is on our end of the court," Greenway said.