Ramu Alagappan
When starting setter Kota Kondo went down with a sprained ankle, Ramu Alagappan learned he would be thrust into the main setter role Thursday night.
The junior responded by orchestrating the offense with 36 assists to help Columbus North sweep Martinsville 25-15, 25-16, 25-17 in boys volleyball action.
“To be honest, I was really scared, but I practice with the guys all the time, and I’m used to playing with them all the time, so it wasn’t too scary or unusual,” Alagappan. ”I was pretty happy with the way I played. All the guys played really well, as well. Our first game, I remember we played so bad, but we definitely played way better where we are now. We work as a team now.”
The Bull Dogs (6-14) built big leads in all three sets in cruising to the victory.
“We’ve improved a lot through the year,” North coach Jeff Case said. “I really thought we would. The guys have been working hard. That was a good showing, and they needed it.”
Leo Iorio led the Bull Dogs with 11 kills and four aces. Juan Jose Salcedo Calderon had four blocks, and Yoki Murabayashi notched eight digs.
Also for North, Yuta Kondo pounded 10 kills, Noah Dornfeld recorded eight kills and Alagappan added one block and one ace. Jake Roeder had one block, Iorio tallied seven digs and Parth Shah added five digs and two aces.
“We made some amazing defensive plays, and the energy was great,” Case said. “When you do something like that, the energy just ratchets up, and it fed through the whole team. We hit well, the blocking was really good, the middles were working tonight,” Case said. “We were connection with them really well, so I’m very happy.”
