Chennai Blitz captain Naveen Raja Jacob starred in what was a neck-to-neck battle against Kochi Blue Spikers, as the former walked out with a 3-2 (15-9, 11-15, 15-10, 8-15, 15-9) win in Match 4 of RuPay Prime Volleyball League Powered by A23 Season 2 at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru on Tuesday, February 7.

Jacob, an outside hitter, stayed true to his position as he ended his tenure with the joint-most tally of nine points alongside Sebastian Jibin of Kochi.

The lanky hitter, along with his teammate Renado Mendes, was simply unplayable with seven of his nine points coming from the attack itself. While he also made as many as five errors in the midst, Chennai managed to cover the ground in the final set.

An attacking efficiency of 11.11 percent may look like a substandard figure but once we look into the finite details, one can safely come up with a conclusion that if not for Naveen the team would have struggled to get the win.

This is mostly because the Chennai Blitz defence was weak as a kitten. This can be pointed out from the fact that the side tallied a mere three points from blocks. As it turns out, the number was 10 for Kochi Blue Spikers. And this was the only attribute that considerably distinguished the two teams.

Looking at the holistic picture, Naveen was key to all of Chennai’s attacks as it was his deadly spikes that kept his team in the game. The captain was responsible for two super serves as well, meaning that not only his leadership presence but also his contribution was equally crucial.