New Delhi: Tamil Nadu boys looked to be the team to beat as they won over Gujarat 25-10, 25-16, 25-15 to enter the quarterfinals of the 37th Sub-Junior National Volleyball Championships, being held at the Ajmal Khan Park here today.

They were joined by West Bengal who downed Maharashtra 17-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-12 and Andhra Pradesh, who defeated Rajasthan in their last pool match 27-25, 25-15, 25-23. Yet, Rajasthan also qualified for the last-eight stages. The other teams who made the quarterfinal cut include Uttarakhand, UP, Karnataka, Assam, Karnataka.

But it was the match between West Bengal and fancied Maharashtra that took the cake as the former after losing the first set, 17-25 came back strongly to down Maharashtra with a solid spiking as well as defence. In fact, it was their good defence that helped post the win over a strong Maharashtra sqauad.

But for this match, the other league matches proved to be more or less along the expected line with Tamil Nadu crossing the line without a hiccup against Gujarat. Uttrakhand beat Chhattisgar 25-17, 25-12, 25-10, Karantaka beat Goa 25-8, 25-8, 25-9 in a very low-scoring affair.

Meanwhile, in the girls’ section West Bengal beat Haryana to enter the semifinals in a tough battle. West Bengal girls, like their boys, did a wonderful job to win their quarterfinal match after being down in the first set. They won 20-25, 25-11, 25-23, 25-11.

Karnataka girls had no problem against UP as they won 25-17, 26-24 and 25-22, Kerala accounted for Himachal Pradsh 25-19, 25-15, 25-10 and Tamil Nadu, keeping their tradition intact, beat Chhattisgarh after being stretched (22-25, 25-11, 25-17, 25-10).
Saurabh Suden