South Western Railway (SWR) were made to toil hard by a resilient Army Service Corps (ASC) before emerging 30-28, 25-16, 12-25, 20-25, 15-11 victors in a Group D second phase match of the 19th State ‘A’ Division volleyball championship at the Sree Kanteerava stadium on Saturday.

SWR have two points after their first match while ASC, who walked away with one point for stretching the game to the decider, ended their campaign with seven points from three matches.

In the first set, both teams had their moments with ASC’s Saneesh and Divya Prasad garnering points for them while Christy and Devadaram were smashing well for the Railwaymen. The set was tied at 23-all with both teams in with a chance.

The pendulum swung back and forth thereafter until Christy’s timely smash when SWR
were leading 29-28 helped them take the set 30-28.

Attacking approach

SWR adopted a relentless attacking approach with captain Somanath Gowda and Harish getting their smashes and blocks right in the second set. SWR took a 17-14 lead which they extended to 20-15 after couple of fine smashes from Devadaram.

ASC struggled with their defence unable to block the rampaging SWR smashes as the latter won the set 25-16. Under tremendous pressure to keep the contest alive, ASC dished out a superb counter-attacking game in the third set. It was 7-7 at one stage, however, the Army-outfit soon gained a 14-7 lead riding on some brilliant attacking display from Saneesh and Sudheer.

With a few line calls going against them, SWR players lost their focus and concentration as ASC pocketed the set 25-12.

The fourth set witnessed another close battle with teams playing a high intensity game. Harish and Vinod got into good positions to place their smashes effectively for SWR as the set was tied at 15-15.

But, C K Swamy brought out his best in the crunch situation for ASC with his smashes along with Sathyaraj as ASC bagged the set 25-20.

SWR had the last laugh though with Christy in scintillating form as his side clinched the fifth set and match at 15-11.

In another Group D match, MEG outplayed Sports Hostel 25-20, 25-23, 25-23. The Sappers have three points from two matches.

Final advanced

Meanwhile, the final of the championship has been advanced to November 1 from November 3 as the inter-district junior and sub-junior volleyball meet will be held at Jamkhandi  from Nov 2-4.

Results: SWR bt ASC 30-28, 25-16, 12-25, 20-25, 15-11; MEG bt Sports Hostel 25-20, 25-23, 25-23.