Ahmedabad Defenders picked up their third win in a row in the second season of the Prime Volleyball League after beating the Chennai Blitz 15-11, 15-13, 15-10, 15-9, 15-12 at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday. Nandagopal Subramaniyam was named the Player of the Match for his eye-catching performance.
Chennai Blitz took charge with Akhin leading the middle with his spirited attacks. But middle blocker LM Manoj levelled the playing field for Ahmedabad Defenders with ferocious blocks. Danial Moatazedi's hard spikes gave Chennai no breathing room.
As the game became a battle of the middle, Akhin's role became crucial for the Blitz. Chennai's strategy to switch Jobin Varghese to the left side helped Blitz but Manoj and Nandagopal kept Ahmedabad ahead with consistent blocks. With spike errors from Angamuthu and Santhosh, Ahmedabad Defenders started leaking points.
Moyo and Renato constantly started switching directions, giving Blitz an opening. But a perfectly-executed combo move between skipper Muthusamy Appavu and Angamuthu shut down Chennai's rebellion and the Defenders took control of the proceedings.
Muthusamy kept delivering the ball to his attackers in the middle, despite getting in awkward positions, at times. Danial's towering presence only added to Chennai's worries Akhin kept trying to create an impact from the middle for Chennai but found little support and Ahmedabad closed down the game within straight sets.
With the opportunity to climb to the top position with a 5-0 win, the Defenders went all in. Nandagopal kept getting better and Chennai found no replies to his powerful serves, and Ahmedabad completed the clean sweep win to get 3 points from the match.
Kolkata Thunderbolts will be up against Mumbai Meteors and Ahmedabad Defenders will be up against Calicut Heroes at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium on the sixth day of the Hyderabad leg of the Prime Volleyball League from 19:00 hrs onwards IST on Monday.
( With inputs from ANI )
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