An exciting edition of the RuPay Prime Volleyball League Powered by A23 was brought to a close on Sunday, March 5 as Ahmedabad Defenders were crowned the new champions after beating a spirited Bengaluru Torpedoes 3-2 (15-7, 15-10, 18-20, 13-15, 15-10) in the final.
In only the second season of the country’s leading volleyball league, several records were shattered and the fans got to see some of the best individual performances. Right from Guru Prasanth’s chartbusting return to Ibin Jose’s outstanding debut, the league had it all.
On that note, let’s take a look at all the individual awards that were presented to the players on Sunday.
Most Valuable Player: Guru Prasanth
For someone who was named the Emerging Player of the Season last year, being honoured as the league’s Most Valuable Player this year is perhaps the perfect way to sum up his growth and prowess.
Hyderabad Black Hawks captain Guru Prasanth was simply a class apart and it can be understood by the fact that he tallied a whopping 114 points in just seven games. This means the 22-year-old was, in fact, averaging 16.2 points per game this season.
Emerging Player of the Season: Ibin Jose
Bengaluru Torpedoes’ Ibin Jose was largely overshadowed by his own teammates such as Pankaj Sharma, Tsvetelin Tsvetanov and Jishnu PV. But the 25-year-old, playing in his first-ever Prime Volleyball League campaign, put on such an extraordinary display that he was named the Emerging Player of the Season.
The Bengaluru universal tallied more than 10 points in five of his nine outings, with his best performance coming against Kolkata Thunderbolts and Chennai Blitz where he accrued 12 individual points.
Best Spiker of the Season: Guru Prasanth
For the first time in its history, the Prime Volleyball League witnessed a player breaching the three-digit mark in attack as Guru Prasanth was named the Best Spiker of the Season. The 22-year-old ended his season with 102 attack points and this despite the fact that his team failed to qualify for the playoffs.
What’s more commendable is that the Hyderabad universal tallied points in double figures in each of his seven outings, with his best return coming against Chennai Blitz (18 points) on February 18.
Best Blocker of the Season: Jose Antonio Sandoval
Calicut Heroes’ Jose Antonio Sandoval was instrumental in his team’s run till the semi-final. The towering Cuban blocker stood firm near the net to finish with 22 block points, the most by any player in the season, which was enough for him to land the Best Blocker of the Season award.
The 27-year-old middle blocker averaged an impressive 2.75 block points per game this season and although he made 26 errors along the way, he was only one of the three players who were responsible for more than 20 block points.
Best Setter of the Season: Mohan Ukkrapandian
In a team boasting the likes of Vinith Jerome and M Ashwin Raj in attack, they needed someone who can assist these attackers in their flight. As it turns out, the task was perfectly carried out by Calicut Heroes’ Mohan Ukkrapandian, who was named the Best Setter of the Season.
With a success rate of 20.96 percent in setting up his teammates, Ukkrapandian made only three errors during the season and was successful on 92 occasions.
Best Libero of the Season: R Ramanathan
In what was a rather disappointing season for Chennai Blitz as a whole, a certain R Ramanathan was a bright spot in the gloom. The 25-year-old libero was simply the best player in his position during the season as he finished the campaign with a success rate of 65.79 percent in digging.
His average of 7.14 digs per game was the most any player could muster throughout the season, hence it comes as no surprise that Ramanathan was named the Best Libero of the Season.
