Lanka Lions came from 2 sets down to stage a magnificent come from behind 3-2 win over Thailand League Champions, Nakhon Ratchasima The Mall VC in the final Pool C match at the 2018 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.
Lanka Lions defeated Nakhon Ratchasima 25-20, 25-23, 16-25, 23-25, 11-15 in a thrilling 5 sets.
Though Sri Lanka National Team are participating as the Lanka Lions, Nakhon Ratchasima too has a few Thailand National Team players and foreign players in their ranks. Sri Lanka are ranked 77th in the world while Thailand are 41st.
Lions started off slow as Nakhon Ratchasima took a 6-2 lead but a timeout helped them to recover and went on a 0-4 run to equalize and take an 7-8 lead at the first technical time out. Both sides matched each other point for point as the Thailand team lead 16-14 at the 2nd technical time out (TTO).
There on in Ratchasima took the game away from the Lankans to take a 21-16 lead and even though Sri Lanka closed the gap to 23-20 they went onto win the 1st set 25-20.
In the 2nd set too Lankans lead 7-8 at the 1st TTO following a poor start and even extended the lead to 9-14 at one point. But the Thai team went on a 6-1 run to equalize at 15-15 and after a fiercely contested latter part of the set they won 25-23.
Needing to win the 3rd set to keep their hopes alive Lanka Lions raced off the blocks quickly in the 3rd set to take a 4-8 lead and extended it to 8-16 at the 2nd TTO. There on in it was cruise control for the Lankans as they won the 3rd set 16-25.
The 4th set enlivened the game once again with a close encounter. Lanka Lions were trailing 20-17 before a 0-3 run saw them equalize at 20-20. They continued the momentum to win 23-25 and send the game into a deciding 5th set.
The Lions did not take the foot off the paddle as they took an early lead and kept the distance to win 11-15 to complete a historic comeback.
Deepthi Romesh with his thundering attacks led the scoring with a match-high 29 points including 25 spikes from 37 attempts while Lasindu Methmal Wasanthapriya scored 14 points. Jirayu Raksakew chipped in 17 points for the losing side, assisted by Wanchai Tabwises and Kittinon Namkhunthod, who scored 13 and 11 points respectively.
