men and Pune women were crowned champions of the 56th Maharashtra State Volleyball Championship that concluded at the Anand Nagar Sports Association Ground, on Sunday night. Nagpur boys pipped Sangli 3-2 in a thrilling match. The set-wise scores read 25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 32-34, 15-10. Nagpur stormed into the lead in the first set 25-22, but fumbled on the momentum to concede points in second set which Sangli won 23-25. Capitalising on better serves and blocks, the hosts took third close set 25-23. The fourth set went to a tie-breaker after dominating performance from both the teams, but Sangli had the final word as they won 34-32. In the deciding fifth set, Nagpur beat Sangli 15-10 to win the championship.

 

In women’s final, Pune beat Nashik 3-2 in a thriller match which went to five sets. Pune took the first set 25-22. Nashik eves bounced back in the second set to win 22-25. The third and fourth set saw a see-saw in performance, Pune won the third set 25-20 while Nashik took the fourth set 23-25 to level scores. In the decider tie-breaker round, Pune pipped Nashik 18-16 to be crowned Maharashtra champions. Solapur clinched the third spot as they got over Yavatmal 2-0. Solapur did not let their guard down and conceded lesser points to take the two sets 25-17, 25-13. Prizes were distributed at the hands of Vijay Dangre, President and Anup Pote, Executive President. Nilesh Jagtap, Secretary; Sunil Hande, Treasurer; Arvind Gawai, Joint Secretary; Vikas Ghogare, Zonal Secretary and Satish Pathak, Zonal Secretary of Maharashtra Volleyball Association were also present on the dais.