Panaji: The presence of Santa Cruz MLA Rodolfo Fernandes in the stands till the conclusion of the night’s matches at the Modi ground in Merces on Tuesday was indicative of volleyball’s popularity in this part of the state.After all, by the time the matches ended, it was 1.40am. There were, however, enough people in the stands to cheer as some of India’s popular players took to the court on the opening day, rather night, Vicente Almeida and Bonifacio Almeida Memorial All-Goa volleyball tournament, organized by Almeida Brothers in association with Pogo Boys, Merces.The tournament has six local teams, but what draws the crowd – and keeps them in the stands till very late in the night – is the presence of the outstation players. Every team must mandatorily field three players from outside the state, and not surprisingly, they are the big attractions.In the first match that started almost two hours beyond the stipulated time because the teams arrived fashionably late, there were stars from the Prime Volleyball League (PVL), India’s franchise-based league.If Sarvan showcased Shubham Chaudhary, the PVL veteran with stints at U-Mumbai and Mumbai Meteors, with Sahil Kanwal for effective company, Radhakrishna Usgao turned up with Niyas Abdul Salam (Hyderabad Black Hawks) and Muhammed Jasim, the young blocker from Kerala, a rising star in the league whose skills were in high demand during the auction.Radhakrishna Usgao started strongly, winning the first set at 25-15 but Sarvan turned it around as they won the next three sets and the match at 25-19, 25-18, 25-20 with Shubham winning most of the points.By the time the second match commenced, it was midnight, but nobody was in the mood to leave. The action on the court kept everyone invested in the game with another set of PVL stars representing Detailz Doctor in fine form.Detailz Doctor had all three players from Tamil Nadu and they combined to great effect.Making them click, of course, was ace setter Muthusamy Appavu, who captains the Ahmedabad franchise and was in fine form when India finished runnersup against a strong Iran team at the Central Asian Volleyball Championship last year.For Detailz Doctor, Nandagopal Subramanian (also from Ahmedabad Defenders) and Sethu TR (Hyderabad) led from the front, while local players, Kailash Balikar and Vithalraj Gawas, also came up with impressive performances in their team’s 25-21, 15-25, 25-23, 25-16 win against Cacra-Bandh-Santa Cruz.Cacra-Bandh-Santa Cruz had outstation players from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, but Rajneesh Singh and Puneet could not measure up to the challenge. Even the local players, most of them known faces on the Goan volleyball circuit like Rama Dhawaskar, Prabal Sawant and Tejas Gauns, fell short.Cacra-Bandh-Santa Cruz now face an uphill task of putting it across KK Boys, Santa Cruz, to stay alive, never easy given that they will be up against the talismanic India star Ashwal Rai.ACTION TODAYAll Goa volleyball: Detailz Doctor vs KK Boys, Santa Cruz, 8pm; Radhakrishna Usgao vs Varad 7, 9pm; Modi ground, Merces