Former nine-time champions Al Rayyan Club handed a straight 3-0 defeat to Al Khor Club during the QVA League at the QVA Headquarters Indoor Hall on Saturday.
Al Rayyan did not face opposition in the first two sets in their 67-minute match. But in the beginning of the third one, they trailed 6-8. But midway, they managed to catch up with Al Khor and forged 21-19 ahead.
Soon after moving into the twenties, Al Rayyan came up with clean winners through their net play and sealed their eighth victory in 11 games to raise points tally to 26, three behind leaders Al Arabi Club (10 wins in 11 matches) and second-placed holders Police (10 wins in 12 matches).
Marco Even Ferreira had a game-high 21 points, including 16 from attack, for the winners. Belal Abunabot collected 12, including two aces. Marko Vukasinovic had the third highest eight points.
For Al Khor, who are occupying the eighth slot in the ranking table, had only player in the double digits – Eugenie Turin, who logged 12, with 10 of them from the attack. No other player could support as well as Turin would have liked.
In another match, Ivan Jose Fernandez Anon and Nikola Visic secured 18 points each to lead Al Wakrah to a come-from-behind 3-1 victory against Al Gharafa Club.
After losing the opening set in a tight finish, Al Wakrah bounced back and reeled off the next three sets to wrap up a 23-25, 2518, 25-19, 25-14 win in 92 minutes. Their eighth triumph in 12 games took them to the fourth spot with 23 points,
Hector Salerno was the third place to impress for the winner. He got 17 points, including 13 from attack. The fourth set was a one-way traffic for Al Wakrah, who got 8-3 ahead, before increasing the lead to nine points (16-7) before cantering to 21-10 and 25-14 to secure the triumph in 92 minutes.
For Al Gharafa, Wellington Bolzani (17 points), Emina Guilherme (15) and Rendon Osniel (12) put up a good display. With this loss, they suffered the eighth defeat in 12 matches