Mar. 24:The dominance of departmental teams was thrashed in the 8th edition of the RBB-NVA Volleyball Championship as Tip Top Help Nepal Sports Club and Everest Volleyball Club lifted the trophies in the men’s and women’s categories respectively on Saturday.

Tip Top Help Nepal (TTHN), with three Pakistani players, defeated Tribhuwan Army Club (TAC) in the men’s final while Everest Volleyball Club (EVC) defeated the Nepal Police Club (NPC) in the women’s final.

It was the third time that TTHN and TAC faced each other in the final match of the RBB NVA Volleyball Championship. Both had defeated each other once in the final earlier. TTHN was the defending champion of the tournament. TAC won the first set by 25-20. However, TTHN made a comeback in the second set by defeating Army by 27-25. 

The final match was filled with drama as Army won the third set by 25-23 and TTHN bounced back by winning the fourth set by 29-27. 

The final set was the most competitive one as the two teams moved forward at a tie by scoring in turns. Earning two consecutive points, TTHN defeated Army by 22-20 to clinch the trophy of the 8th edition.

TTHN, TAC, Nepal Police, APF, Koshi, Sudur Pashchim, Budhanilkantha and Gandaki have qualified for the 9th edition of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Everest Volleyball Club won the 8th RBB NVA Women’s Volleyball Championship defeated defending champion Nepal Police Club in the final to clinch the first-ever national-level trophy for the team. Nepal Police has won the tournament twice. 

Everest, seeking to end its trophy drought, had inducted the national women’s volleyball team captain Aruna Shahi and three players from India’s national team in the squad this season.

Everest lost the first set by 19-25 against Nepal Police in the final. However, the club made a comeback and won the next three sets consecutively (25-22, 25-18 and 25-19) to lift the trophy.

Likewise, the four semi-finalists in the women’s category – Everest, Nepal Police, New Diamond and APF – alongside Army and Karnali are the six teams that have qualified for the next edition of the tournament.

Nevertheless, Nepal Police finished third in the men’s category after defeating Gandaki for the third place before the final matches on Saturday. 

Gandaki lost three consecutive sets and lost to Police. Gandaki lost by improving in the next set. While Gandaki lost the first set 16-25, the team scored 20 points before Police got the match point. Gandaki took the third set to extended play which it lost 27-29. 

The match for the third position in the women’s category was held on Friday where APF defeated New Diamond. The tournament was organised jointly by Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) and the National Volleyball Association (NVA).

Best performances

In the women’s category, the best libero, setter, server, spiker and blocker awards were awarded to Shantikala Tamang of Police, Aruna Shahi of Everest, Saraswati Chaudhary of APF, Usha Bhandari of Police and Soorya S. of Everest respectively.

Arjun Ghimire of Everest Volleyball Club was adjudged the best coach of the women’s team in the tournament.

Similarly, Top Bahadur Thapa of TTHN, Em Bahadur Rana Magar of Police, Dharma Bahadur Bhatta of TAC, Usman of TTHN and Durga Bahadur Khadka of TAC were awarded as the best libero, setter, server, spiker and blocker in the men’s category.

Utsab Khadka of the TTHN was adjudged the best coach of the men’s team in the tournament.

Anushree of Everest from the women’s and Fakhar of TTHN from the men’s were the most valuable players of the tournament.