Dar Kulaib overcome Nabi Saleh in volleyball league

TDT | Manama                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Title-hopefuls Dar Kulaib stormed to a resounding 3-1 (25-16, 22-25, 25-19, 25-19) victory over Nabi Saleh last night in their opening match of the round of six in the 2022/2023 Isa bin Rashid Bahrain Volleyball League, being played at the Isa bin Rashid Arena at Isa Sports City in Riffa.

The two teams split the first two sets but then Dar Kulaib rallied in the third and fourth to close out the contest.

The fourth set in particular was tightly contested, with Nabi Saleh racing out to a big lead early on but Dar Kulaib gradually clawed their way back.

After tying the proceedings at 14-apiece, the two squads exchanged points and remained deadlocked at 18-all.

But that’s when Dar Kulaib took control and closed out the contest by scoring seven of the next eight points.

They went ahead 21-19 following a crucial Nabi Saleh error, and after a Mohammed Yaqoob spike, Nabi Saleh never recovered.

Argentinian professional Juan Barrera sealed the win with a powerful spike. Also playing key roles for the victors were Mahmood Abdulwahed, Ayman Isa and Ali Habib, while spearheading Nabi Saleh were Peter Camara from Kenya, Sayed Hashem, Hussain Ashoor, Saleh Mahdi and Haider Al Khabbaz.

Dar Kulaib continued their undefeated run in the league this season, after topping Group Two from the first round to advance to this stage.

Nabi Saleh qualified as third-placers from Group One. Meanwhile, in another roundof-six contest, Al Ahli swept past Muharraq 3-0 (25-22, 27-25, 25-23). Mohammed Anan scored 18 points to pace the victors while Nasser Anan added 17 and Ali Al Sairafi had 11.

Also playing key roles were Sayed Mohamed, Mahmood Abdulhussain, Abbas Al Khabbaz and Hassan Jaffar.

It was the first meeting of the season between the two sides.

Ahli qualified for this stage as runners-up of Group One in round one, while Muharraq were the second-placers in Group Two.

The other teams in this sixteam phase are Al Najma and Al Nasser.

This stage will be played over a double round-robin, with the top four teams moving on to the Golden Square semi-finals.