RAIPUR: Haryana rose in unison when it mattered most to retain the third place in group A at the expense of Tamil Nadu in the 55th senior National volleyball championship at the Netaji Subhas Stadium here on Saturday.

Services, displaced from the top spot in group B, managed to retain the second spot relegating last year's semifinalist Punjab to the fourth.

Inexperience

If Tamil Nadu was done in by the team's inexperience against Haryana, losing 3-0, former champion Punjab was simply not good enough against Services, losing 3-0.

In the women's section, defending champion Railways defeated West Bengal 3-0 to retain its top position in group A, last year's runner-up Kerala emerged the leader of group B beating Andhra Pradesh 3-0 in the final league match.

Chandigarh was third and Karnataka fourth in group A. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi finished in that order in group B. The top three teams from each group move into the quarterfinals, while the last two teams from each group would have to play the play-off matches to make the grade.

Good rally

Tamil Nadu began well, taking a slender lead in the first game. Haryana fought back to be neck and neck until 23-23 and then pulled ahead to win the game.

The second game also saw Tamil Nadu going into the lead at 17-14 only to allow Haryana to recover and equalise at 20-20. From there Tamil Nadu could manage just two points as against five by Haryana.

Tamil Nadu simply caved in in the third set. For the first time Haryana played a solid game. India player Sanjay Kumar was outstanding for Haryana and with good support form Sube Singh and another India player Jitender Singh, Haryana played the crucial points very well.

Tamil Nadu, devoid of any star, had just two experienced players in P. Sivabalan and J. Nadarajan. The Haryana blockers bottled up N. Shelton Moses, P. Ayyappan and R. Sathish. Setter M. Ukkarapandian had a good game though.

The knockout phase begins on Sunday.

The results:

Men: Group A: Haryana bt Tamil Nadu 25-23, 25-22, 25-16. Group B: Services bt Punjab 25-22, 25-22, 26-24. Group D: U.P. bt Maharashtra 25-18, 25-12, 25-27, 25-19. Group E: Orissa bt Assam 25-18, 25-21, 26-24.

Women: Group A: Railways bt West Bengal 25-16, 25-12, 25-15. Group B: Kerala bt AP 25-6, 25-22, 25-13. Group D: Haryana bt Uttaranchal 22-25, 25-10, 25-9, 25-10. Group E: Maharashtra bt Rajasthan 25-9, 25-11, 25-12.

Play-off: Punjab bt Bihar 25-7, 25-21, 25-10.

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