Sri Lanka Volleyball Association along with the Ceylon Biscuits Limited has organized the 11th Munchee National Volleyball Championships.
The Super League, which features the top 8 clubs in men’s and women’s categories each, started at the National Youth Services Center Indoor Sports Complex. The men’s teams of Army, Air Force, Ports Authority and CEB grabbed vital victories in their opening games.
The games were held under the categories of Super league and Novice as both the Men’s and Women’s teams were contesting for honors. 100 team representing all 25 district of Sri Lankan featured in the Novices category, while 16 leading sports clubs will contest for the title under the super league category.
Men’s Super League
Army was up against Brandix in their first group game as they eased past the latter in three sets registering scores of 25-17, 27-25, 25-22.
The Sri Lanka Air force team was up against the Sri Lanka Police team in the second encounter of the day, as Air Force a stalwart in Sri Lankan volleyball managed see of the challenge by the cops with a 25-23, 25-20, 25-23 score line in three sets.
The host’s, National Youth Services, took on the Ports Authority in the third tie of the men’s draw. Over the years both teams have produced many significant talents for the national ranks hence this turned out to be a keenly contested affair.
The Ports Authority came up trumps during the first two sets as they took it by 25-20, 25-19 respectively. However National Youth Services rallied in the third to take the set 25-23. Despite their late surge the National Youth Services couldn’t prevent the inevitable as Ports Authority came back to take the game winning the fourth set 25-18.
The highlight of the day turned out to be the following game as new boys CEB blessed with an abundance national players took on the Navy team.
Noteworthy, seven out of the twelve players representing the CEB were national caps which paved the way for an intense clash between the teams.
Morris Chandimal, a veteran in the Sri Lankan volleyball arena with 10 years of experience under his belt, along with Sri Lanka cap Shanaka Madushanka represented Sri Lanka Navy. On the opposite end they faced a stiff challenge from Deepthi Romesh, Sri Lanka’s libero player Lakmal and Gayan Madushanka.
Despite losing out on first set to CEB by 25-22 Navy bounced back on the second set to shift the momentum in their favor by winning it 25-21. CEB returned the favor as they took the third set 25-21 to regain the advantage. The fourth set saw both teams exchange blow to blow, however despite a few intense rallies CEB managed to hold on to their early to take the set 27-25 and the match by three sets to one.
Women’s Super League
As two of the four games ended in walkovers in the women’s competition, lit up thanks to the Army team’s prowess.
In the first encounter of the women’s draw, Army women stormed through to take the first and second sets by 25-18 25-10 respectively, leaving little room for respite for the Casual line women’s team. Although the third spanned down as a shock loss for the Army ladies by 25-21 they hit back immediately in the fourth to take game as the won the set 25-07.
The Sri Lanka Ports Authority women were given a walkover win as the Police women’s team failed to turn up for their game.
Air Force women managed to register a win in the third game with ease.
Tournament newbies Nation Youth Services women’s team came up against the experienced Sri Lanka Navy women’s team in the fourth clash. It was a rather one sided affair as the experienced Navy women managed to breeze past their opponents in three sets as they registered a 25-08, 25-15, 25-12 victory. Consequently, they managed to capture top spot in the leader board on the women’s draw.
The coming days of the tournament promises to be nothing but exhilarating entertainment as the latter stages of the tournament is destined to bring forward the prospective national talent to represent Sri Lanka.
Munchee National Volleyball championship preliminary round games will be held on the 11th, 14th and 15th with finals to be held on the 25th of November at the Maharagama National Youth Services indoor stadium.
