Ahmedabad Defenders’ LM Manoj is known as ‘The Mountain Man’ for a reason.

The middle blocker, whose frame stands at 6 feet and 9 inches, was arguably his side’s best performer against Bengaluru Torpedoes in Match 6 of the RuPay Prime Volleyball League Powered by A23 Season 2 that finished 3-2 (14-15, 15-10, 14-15, 15-10, 15-10) in the former’s favour.

Rightly named as the RuPay Player of the Match, Manoj’s experience was extremely vital for the Defenders. After all, the 26-year-old has played in the finals of the 2019 South Asian Games where he also took the court against Pakistan.

Against Bengaluru Torpedoes, the mountain man finished as his team’s highest scorer with eight points, seven of those coming in the attack itself. The other came during a block.

Such was Manoj’s precision on the night that he finished the game with an efficiency of 87.50 percent in attack. Interestingly enough, he made no errors in the department.

Ahmedabad Defenders made a slow start to the fixture, having lost the first set in a close tie. But as the game moved on, the chemistry between the players grew which was, in fact, crucial towards the end.

In that regard, the likes of Angamuthu Ramaswamy and Muthusamy Appavu combined extremely well and in the midst, Manoj did his job like a silent vigilante.

Now, it’s not to say that Manoj’s tenure was flawless. In fact, he did make four errors while blocking and one during the launch but more than made up for the mistakes in attack.