Shining vivid: Defenders stored their nerve in a tense remaining.
| Photo Credit: Special association
R. Angamuthu, who took up volleyball quite late, led from the front as Ahmedabad Defenders fought off a combating Bengaluru Torpedoes 3-2 and received the Prime Volleyball League title at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium right here on Sunday.
The 27-year-old Tiruchi-born common, who performed a giant position in Defenders’ stunning win over Calicut Heroes in the semifinal, dominated the remaining together with his fiery crosscourt smashes.
He had sturdy assist from attackers S. Nandagopal, S. Santhosh and Iranian middle-blocker Daniel Moatazedi, and setter A. Muthusamy too performed his half.
Defenders’ backcourt, too, appeared a settled one as libero Srikanth carried out with confidence.
Defenders gave the impression to be cruising to a straightforward win once they received the first two units comfortably, however T.R. Sethu impressed a robust Torpedoes comeback. His serves and smashes rattled Defenders as Torpedoes raced to a 6-0 lead in the third set.
But the crew nearly threw all of it away as Defenders levelled at 11 and took the lead at 16-15 with Danial, Angamuthu and Santhosh’s good assault.
The scores have been all sq. at 18 however two errors from Defenders — Nandagopal tousled on his serve and attacker Santosh’s smash sailed out — gave the set and a brand new lease of life to Torpedoes.
Torpedoes have been down 8-10 in the fourth however bounced again with a brilliant level name. When Angamuthu’s smash went out, they went forward 12-10.
Shortly after, Angamuthu’s smash was blocked by Sethu and an ace from Mujeeb helped Torpedoes take the remaining to the decider.
Defenders raced to a 12-7 lead in the decider when Santhosh’s serve danced over the web.
Angamuthu then produced a crosscourt smash that turned out to be the winner.
The consequence:
Ahmedabad Defenders bt Bengaluru Torpedoes 15-7, 15-10, 18-20, 13-15, 15-10.
