Ahmedabad Defenders moved to the top of the standings in RuPay Prime Volleyball League Powered by A23 Season 2 by beating Chennai Blitz 5-0 (15-11, 15-13, 15-10, 15-9, 15-12) in what was a rather one-sided affair.

While LM Manoj’s towering presence may have made it look like he dominated, a certain 21-year-old took home the RuPay Player of the Match thanks to his all-round performance on the night.

In all fairness, Ahmedabad’s eye-catching performance was an absolute team effort. This can be understood by the fact that as many as three Ahmedabad players finished the match with more than 10 individual points.

Nandagopal Subramaniyam, in particular, tallied 13 points with an efficiency of 32 percent. While his return was outscored by LM Manoj (15), the 25-year-old wasn’t as clinical as the former, having finished with an efficiency of just 18.42 percent.

The outside hitter was influential across several areas. To begin with, while his attacking prowess was more than sufficient, he accumulated four points from blocking and three points from his services.

Interestingly enough, the 21-year-old made a solitary error while blocking and one cannot forget how swiftly he set up his teammates in the attack. If only there was a score for assists.

Riding on Nandagopal and Manoj’s match-winning returns, Ahmedabad Defenders became the second team this season to register a clean sweep. The only other team to do so was Mumbai Meteors and ironically, their triumph too came against Chennai Blitz.