Tribhuvan Army Club women defeated Hongwanji New Diamond Sports Club women in the National NVA Club League Women’s and Men’s Volleyball Championship on Friday.

In other women’s matches, Armed Police Force (APF) Club and Nepal Police also began their campaign with comfortable wins over Dhorpatan Sports Club and Bharatpur Metro Khelkud.

It was a memorable day for Army who had to wait until the fifth set to down a tough New Diamond in an entertaining match.

Despite featuring the key national players Prativa Mali, Aruna Shahi and Salina Shrestha, Army dominated the first set before winning it 25-17.

Army, who also boast the likes of national players Sunita Khadka, Janaki Bhandari and Sofia Pun, controlled the earlier minutes of the second set. But New Diamond made a brilliant comeback, pushing the score from 8-3 to 8-8 and never looked back and soon they were leading 13-19. New Diamond went on snatch the set 25-20.

The third set was competitive at the start. However, New Diamond lost their way and were already four points behind coming towards the end before staging another fightback to tie the score 22-22, but surrendered the set 25-23.

New Diamond showed spirit in the fourth and dominated Army to set up a decider, tying the match 2-2 after winning the set 15-25.

But it was Army who came on top in the fifth set continuing the gap from early on and beat New Diamond 15-12 to secure an important victory.

“I am not happy with today’s performance,” said a dejected New Diamond coach Kumar Rai whose side suffered their first defeat.

“We were not better in the service and block departments. Our spike was also poor,” he added. “But we still have chances to make it to the final.”

The top two finishers in the league will vie for the title.

Earlier, APF overpowered their relatively weaker opponents Dhorpatan Sports Club 25-3, 25-9, 25-5 to collect their first three points in the six-team round robin tournament at the covered hall of National Sports Council.

This is the second straight loss for Dhorpatan women, who were thrashed 25-6, 25-2, 25-5 by New Diamond in the championship opener on Thursday.

The other winners, Police opened their campaign strongly and eased to a comfortable 25-4 first set victory and opted for their second-string players in the remaining two sets against Bharatpur Metro Khelkud. They won the last two sets 25-8, 25-12.

In men’s action, Tip Top Help Nepal Sports Club inflicted Nayabazar Samajik Yuwa Club their second defeat on the second day, beating them 25-14, 23-25, 25-22, 25-16. Nayabazar lost to Police in their opening match on Thursday.

Manimukunda Volleyball Club also fell to their second loss after surrendering the match to APF 25-19, 25-22, 25-20.

In the day’s late match, Bulbule RaRa Club, who lost to APF in their opening match, came from a set down to beat Army 20-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-23.