Chennai Spartans will begin its home leg in the Pro Volleyball League (PVL) with a clash against U Mumba Volley at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.
Chennai Spartans sits 4th in the table, with 2 points from 3 matches
Chennai:
Following the match-up against U Mumba, host Chennai will lock horns with fellow struggler Ahmedabad Defenders in its last league assignment. It will have to win both its remaining fixtures to safely seal a semi-final berth.
Despite winning the first two sets, Chennai went down 2-3 to Kochi Blue Spikers in its previous game. But, one of the biggest positives for the MH Kumara-coached unit has been the form of its overseas signing Rudy Verhoeff. The Canadian has racked up 37 spike points thus far and will hope to come good in the business end of the round-robin stage.
“We won the first two sets, but ended up losing the match. We are at home now and have only one objective in mind, that is winning. The home support will certainly lift our morale. I am glad that Rudy has been leading the team from the front, with his performances and experience,” said Spartans coach Kumara ahead of the clash.
Members from the Chennai management are equally excited about the twin encounters. “Our players are really geared up. I feel our home ground will unlock their potential. We started well and were on course for a thumping win (against Kochi). But, luck didn’t favour us. We did not lack in terms of competitiveness, but these things happen in sport. The lessons learnt will come in handy during our upcoming matches in Chennai,” said Uppiliappan Gopalan, Spartans’ Sales and Marketing Head.
Home side Spartans sits fourth in the standings, with two points after three matches. Its opponent, U Mumba, is yet to open its account in the first edition of the PVL. The Mumbai-based franchise has lost all its games thus far and is rooted to the fifth spot in the table.
Following the match-up against U Mumba, host Chennai will lock horns with fellow struggler Ahmedabad Defenders in its last league assignment. It will have to win both its remaining fixtures to safely seal a semi-final berth.
Despite winning the first two sets, Chennai went down 2-3 to Kochi Blue Spikers in its previous game. But, one of the biggest positives for the MH Kumara-coached unit has been the form of its overseas signing Rudy Verhoeff. The Canadian has racked up 37 spike points thus far and will hope to come good in the business end of the round-robin stage.
“We won the first two sets, but ended up losing the match. We are at home now and have only one objective in mind, that is winning. The home support will certainly lift our morale. I am glad that Rudy has been leading the team from the front, with his performances and experience,” said Spartans coach Kumara ahead of the clash.
Members from the Chennai management are equally excited about the twin encounters. “Our players are really geared up. I feel our home ground will unlock their potential. We started well and were on course for a thumping win (against Kochi). But, luck didn’t favour us. We did not lack in terms of competitiveness, but these things happen in sport. The lessons learnt will come in handy during our upcoming matches in Chennai,” said Uppiliappan Gopalan, Spartans’ Sales and Marketing Head.
All-star women match on final day
The organisers of the Pro Volleyball League (PVL) on Friday announced that an all-star women match will take place on February 22, the night of the final.
The match will be played in best-of-three sets format, with the first team getting to 15 points winning the set. Two squads of eight players each have been chosen and each team will have one overseas star. The sides have been named as Team Blue and Team Yellow. American Alexa Strange, one of the presenters of the league, will represent Team Blue, while Slovenia’s Marina Cvetanova will play for Team Yellow.