Muharraq secure semi-final spot in volleyball league
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Muharraq claimed the fourth and final spot in the Golden Square semi-finals of the 2022/2023 Isa bin Rashid Bahrain Volleyball League last night.
Muharraq secured their berth following a hard-earned 3-1 (25- 27, 25-16, 25-21, 25-21) victory over Nabih Saleh and after Al Ahli’s come-from-behind 3-2 (23-25, 26-24, 25-21, 20-25, 15-11) victory over Al Nasser.
Both games were part of the last match week in the league’s round-of-six playoffs.
Muharraq and Nasser were the last two teams in contention for the final berth in the Golden Square, where they were looking to join already qualified Al Najma, Dar Kulaib and Ahli.
The six-team playoffs are being played in double round-robin format.
The top four move on to the semis.
This stage concludes tomorrow with a clash of the titans—a non-bearing game between Najma and Dar Kulaib, who are already assured of the top two spots.
They both currently top the round-of-six standings, with Najma boasting an 8-1 win-loss record, followed by Dar Kulaib with a 7-2 mark.
Ahli are third after improving to 7-3 to wrap up this stage, while Muharraq improved to 4-6, followed by Nasser who dropped to 3-7.
Nabih Saleh rounded out the table with a winless record after 10 games.
The Golden Square semi-finals have yet to be scheduled by the Bahrain Volleyball Association but will likely get underway next week.
In Muharraq’s triumph, they did well to bounce back after narrowly losing the first set with a dominant second.
They kept it up in set three but had to battle hard in the fourth, with Nabih Saleh looking to extend the contest.
But Muharraq were able to break an 18-all deadlock with five straight points that made it 23-18.
Nabih Saleh could not recover and Muharraq sealed their place in the Golden Square.
Meanwhile, in Ahli’s win last night, after taking the first set, Nasser could have gone 2-0 up with a late rally in the second.
But Ahli were able to score the next two points, capped by a winner from Canadian professional Jerome Cross to tie the match.
Ahli rode their momentum into the third but Nasser were able to force the tie-break.
There, an Ahli double block put them ahead 11-8, and although Nasser stayed close at 11-13, Ahli made no mistake in closing the match out.
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