The inaugural edition of the Pro Volleyball League, featuring six teams, kicked off on 2 February.
The first leg of the tournament is being played in Kochi till 13 February. The next six matches including the semi-finals and final will then be held in Chennai. The final will be on 22 February.
The presence of foreign stars including David Lee, a former Olympic gold medallist, Novica Bjelica (Ahmedabad Defenders), Paul Lotman (Calicut Heroes) and Rudy Verhoeff (Chennai Spartans), among others, is expected to add to the league's appeal.
Pro Volleyball League 2019: List of Teams
The six franchises part of the league are
- Ahmedabad Defenders
- Calicut Heroes
- Chennai Spartans
- U Mumba Volley
- Black Hawks Hyderabad
- Kochi Blue Spikers.
Pro Volleyball League 2019: Format
The round-robin matches have five sets and the first to reach 15 points wins the set. The winning team will be awarded 2 points.
If a team wins 5-0, it’s called a whitewash and the winning team is awarded 3 points for the same.
The playoffs will have each set of 25 points.
New concepts like Super Serve and Super Point have been introduced to make the league exciting. Each ace served gives the serving team two points, which are called the Super Serve.
Pro Volleyball League 2019: Schedule
Kochi Blue Spikers vs U Mumba Volley
2 February, Saturday; 7:00 PM
Calicut Heroes vs Chennai Spartans
3 February, Sunday; 7:00 PM
Ahmedabad Defenders vs Blackhawks Hyderabad
4 February, Monday; 7:00 PM
Calicut Heroes vs U Mumba Volley
5 February, Tuesday; 7:00 PM
Kochi Blue Spikers vs Ahmedabad Defenders
6 February, Wednesday; 7:00 PM
Chennai Spartans vs Blackhawks Hyderabad
7 February, Thursday; 7:00 PM
Kochi Blue Spikers vs Blackhawks Hyderabad
8 February, Friday; 7:00 PM
Kochi Blue Spikers vs Calicut Heroes
9 February, Saturday; 7:00 PM
Calicut Heroes vs Blackhawks Hyderabad
10 February, Sunday; 7:00 PM
Kochi Blue Spikers vs Chennai Spartans
11 February, Monday; 7:00 PM
U Mumba Volley vs Blackhawks Hyderabad
12 February, Tuesday; 7:00 PM
Calicut Heroes vs Ahmedabad Defenders
13 February; Wednesday; 7:00 PM
Chennai Spartans vs U Mumba Volley
16 February, Saturday; 7:00 PM
Chennai Spartans vs Ahmedabad Defenders
17 February, Sunday; 7:00 PM
U Mumba Volley vs Ahmedabad Defenders
18 February, Monday; 7:00 PM
Semi-Final 1
19 February, Tuesday; 7:00 PM
Semi-Final 2
20 February, Wednesday; 7:00 PM
Final
22 February, Friday; 7:00 PM
In Kochi, the matches will be played at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium while the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will host the tournament in Chennai. All the matches will be broadcast on Sony Six and Sony Ten 3 and will be streamed live on Sony LIV.
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