LAHORE: Defending champions Wapda along with Navy, Army and Pakistan Air Force qualified for the semi-finals of the NDURE National Volleyball Championship at the Nishtar Park Sports Complex here on Saturday.

In Sunday’s semi-finals, Wapda will face PAF while Army will lock horns against Navy.

Earlier, tough competitions were witnessed in all three Quarter League matches.

In the clash of titans, Wapda laboured to a 3-1 victory against Army to finish top of the league. Wapda won 25-21, 26-28, 25-20, 25-20 after a marathon battle lasting more than two hours.

Wapda exerted pressure through Muneer Khan in the first set when they trailed by two points. At 15-15, Amil Khan and Murad Jehan helped them gain lead. In the second game Zameer and Haider rose to the occasion to tame their opponents with their hard serves and powerful smashing.

In the decisive fourth set, Army faltered in their serves but still fought for every point to level scores 12-all. Both sides then equalled to be 18-all before Wapda increased the pace of attack to seal the thrilling fourth set in great style.

POF also were forced to play a four-settler to overcome Higher Education Commission (HEC) 25-23, 17-25, 25-19, 25-20.

After losing the first set, Luqman, Khadim and Ziad fought well to bring back HEC into the match by winning the second set. They exerted pressure with their attacking game while the rivals made several unforced errors.

Saad of POF lifted the morals of his team with impressive serves to win the third set. HEC again took lead in the fourth game but POF fought back to gain control from being 14-17 down to win the set and the match.

In the last match, Navy defeated PAF in 27-29, 25-22, 25-14, 25-23 another action-packed encounter but both teams were assured of reaching the last-fouir phase.

Navy came back after losing the first set to win remaining three on the trot. Dawood, Ismail and Abdullah made the things difficult for Navy in the first set in which both the sides fought hard for every point. Libro Bilal’s well-timed boosting also helped PAF to maintain their pressure. But in the second set, Navy came back as a different side as their Mubashir, Sharif and Khalid made combined efforts to clinch the issue.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2019