Black Hawks’ sensational comeback stuns Mumbai

CHENNAI: Hyderabad Black Hawks made an unbelievable comeback in the third season of the Prime Volleyball League, defeating Mumbai Meteors 7-15, 12-15, 15-10, 15-11, 20-18 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Monday. Ashamat Ullah was named the Player of the Match.

Amit Gulia began well, taking Mumbai Meteors ahead with sensational pipe attacks. Hyderabad relied on setter Lal Sujan MV to play to the middle. But the Hawks made a few unforced errors early on to put themselves in a sticky spot. Shubham Chaudhary became involved in the zone 5, and with his powerful smashes, put Meteors in control.

Riding on Hemanth’s attacking spikes, the Hawks found an opening into the contest. Stefan Kovacevic started finding his footing with the attacks from the middle and Hyderabad began clawing its way back. But the trio of Amit, Ajith Lal, and Shubham proved to be triple effective and Mumbai regained its momentum.

The middle blocker Shameem came on strong for Meteors in the middle to stop Hyderabad’s attacks. Hemanth kept having his moments in the attack and he once again managed to put a halt to Mumbai’s momentum. Mumbai’s service errors became a concern as the game progressed, and Ashamat Ullah started having a say in the match for Hyderabad. With aggressive play from the service, Ashamat revived the Hawks.

As the game went to the fifth set, Mumbai looked to reduce errors, while Hyderabad kept attacking from the middle to stay in control. Shubham’s aggressive serves from the base line threatened Hawks, but Mumbai’s risky Super Point move did not pay off, and Hyderabad came out the victor in the epic thriller.