Uttarakhand boys, Karnataka girls lift titles

Dehradun, Nov 30 (UNI) Uttarakhand boys and Karnataka girls won the of 53rd National School Games Volleyball (Under-17) Tournament here today.

Hosts Uttarakhand defeated Haryana 3-0 and Karnataka girls beat Delhi 3-0.

The Host Uttarakhand proved to good for Haryana lads as the former started dominating the game since the first set. It was only once in the first set when both the teams were locked 9-9 that some ray of hope rised for the latter team. After that it was the champions that took over control of the entire game. Uttarakhand's captain Bharatveer's excellent attack and blocking technique along with fine placement of Nitin Kumar affected the first set win with 25-14.

Continuing their power game, the winner gave no rooms to the rivals and compelled them to make many unforced errors and took the second set 25-17. In the third set too highlanders continued their tempo and started to collect points till they reached 17-13. However impasse struck then and over confident hill boys started losing points and allowed the lanky Jats to equalise the margin 22-22.

Trilok Bisht came as a savoir for the host team displaying his all round excellence and coming back to their usual self as the Uttarakhand spikers edged out the rivals 25-23 to lift the title.

Haryana's Sohan and Naveen exhibited excellent skills.

In the Girl's title clash, Karnataka took over the command since the beginning of the first set to win it by a 25-20 margin. However not giving, the Delhi girls made a come back in the second set and managed to take the score to 25-25 lock. But they failed to cash the opportunity infront of rival's excellent blockings and smashes especially that of Nisha and Nikita George and gave up the set 25-27. Karnataka girls enhancing their coordination and understanding in the third set edged out the Delhi girls restricting them to 14 and won by 25-14 to lift the coveted title. Puja Rawat and Surabhi Rawat played an impressive game for the losing team.

UNI