Kavin Soundirarajan has eyed the North High boys volleyball banner wistfully throughout his career.
“Each year our coach would point out the banner, which would be completely empty with no years, and tell us this year we’re going to put a year up there,” said the Knights senior. “And we haven’t done it yet.”
The banner will be blank no more after a three-set 25-20, 17-25, 25-23 win over rival South High on May 16 helped them improve to 17-6 overall and 6-1 in the Burlington County Scholastic League Liberty Division. The win earns them a league regular-season title and a “2025” listing on the banner.
“It’s a really big thing for all of us,” Soundirarajan said. “We’re happy that we could do this first.”
Soundirarajan led the Knights with 12 kills, the fourth time this season he’s had double-digit kills in a game. That’s something that never happened before this year, and it’s due to a big position change for Soundirarajan. When he took up the game for North as a freshman, it was as a middle. He stood out for his high-flying.
“I remember watching him play me and the freshman coach and the JV coaches and I, we were just always astounded because when he jumps he just kind of floats and hangs in the air for a second,” said North coach Ryan Lagomarsino. “It just seems to defy gravity before he then falls back down to earth. We kind of saw that vertical and that athleticism when he was a freshman.”
The last time he was tested, the 6-feet-2 Soundirarajan could reach up to 11-feet when he jumped.
“It’s probably higher than that now,” Soundirarajan said.
Soundirarajan played middle on the Knights’ first full freshman squad, then moved to JV for his second year at middle and finally played middle last year at the varsity level for the first time. The graduation of three-year starter Dhruv Chaturvedi left an opening for outside hitter, and Soundirarajan wanted a shot at the spot which is often called pin.
“At club, I saw a lot of middles that were really tall compared to me and just did not have a chance against them at middle, so I just switched to being a pin here and I found that I was just much better hitting a slower set,” Soundirarajan said.
“Middles have to be very fast and get everywhere across the net to block as well. I’m more of a slower player, but I can jump high so I think I’m better suited to an outside hitter position,” he said.
There was more than just moving spots to become a good outside hitters. Outside hitters must be able to pass and receive serve and play defense, including dig, some widely different skills from what he’s focused on his first three seasons. As a middle, Soundirarajan focused more on blocking and quick attacks. But when he came back for this spring season, he’d been working on his passing and defense and showed he could really hit too.
“I kind of had in my mind who was probably going to fill in that spot,” Lagomarsino said. “But then when he came back and was doing that, t he people that I kind of thought were going to be there, all of a sudden they all just got pushed back.”
It’s worked out well for North. Soundirarajan leads the team with 168 kills, and he’s been solid with 49 digs, 27 blocks and 14 service aces. Soundirarajan took up club volleyball with CORE Volleyball in Hillsborough over the last two years and that’s helped him develop his game year-round.
“He worked on all the little things that we told him to work on if he wanted to actually play in that spot,” Lagomarsino said. “We don’t win a lot of those tougher games against those really good opponents without him because with his vertical and his reach and everything, we know that he can hit over people trying to block him a lot of times, and when he gets a hold of it, it’s hitting the 10-foot line or closer, which are very, very difficult to get.”
The Knights got a total team effort to sweep their South rivals in two regular-season matches. Maanav Dhruv had 17 assists and four digs, Matthew Reybert had 14 assists, Keshav Batra came up with 12 digs, Jai Garg had three kills, four blocks and two digs and Sarthak Chauhan and Meer Patel had five kills apiece.
“It felt like it was probably the biggest game and most important game in our programs history that Friday,” said Lagomarsino.
On top of it, the two schools used the rivalry to fuel their Volley For Life fundraiser that supports the American Cancer Society. The match took in a record of more than $3,000. The schools may play again if they meet in the final of the conference tournament, which South was hosting and top-seeded for based unusually enough on last year’s power points. North is the No. 2 seed.
“We broke through the first ceiling of winning the division,” Lagomarsino said. “Now I’m hoping we can take care of business.”
The last steps are the hardest. The Knights have had a stretch of really solid seasons that have ended with heartbreak. In each of the last two seasons, North has won 18 games apiece, but they’ve lost two years in a row in the conference semifinals and then twice in a row in the state tournament quarterfinals. But this year’s team feels built for a deeper run.
“Freshman year, we had Max Finkelstein who was basically the ace of the team, just almost carrying the team,” Soundirarajan said. “Seeing him really inspired me to hopefully one day be as good as him or be better. I’m happy that I maybe help my team like this, but overall our team’s a lot better than back then. We’re more well-rounded than before.”
Soundirarajan is one of 10 seniors on the team. The Knights are more experienced and physically bigger and stronger than many opponents after being on the flip side of that look for years. Their experience was a big plus coming into the season, and it’s played out.
“I do think that this is the best season in North history so far,” Lagomarsino said. “It’s kind of nice because this is my fourth year as a head coach, so our varsity team, if you look at it, it is 12 players, 10 of which are seniors and the seniors, I’ve been working with all of them since they were freshmen.”
Lagomarsino has kept a consistent formula that develops players’ all-around skills in practices. It’s another thing that has helped to bring along the Knights and put them in a position to compete for championships. This year, they earned one with their record in-conference.
“It does help to have a more well-rounded team,” he said. “So even if one person isn’t doing as well, everyone else can help cover that up. So that way we can really be consistent.”
Soundirarajan will be balancing a strong academic schedule at Rutgers next year while continuing to focus on his fitness in the gym in his spare time. He’s also considering playing for the club team and building on what’s been a career that has seen a steady progression.
“We all have a lot of experiences playing over four years,” Soundirarajan said. “So the first year we played is the first year that we had a freshman team. That allowed more people to practice compared to just having JV and varsity teams because a lot of freshmen would get cut from the JV team. I think that was a really big difference that our coaches put in when we started playing that allowed us to get better and have more chemistry with each other as we play each season. And we also have a lot of people playing club volleyball, which is during the offseason that allowed us to keep working on our skills outside of school.”
The results have been tangible. When Soundirarajan returns to North following graduation, he’ll be looking at proudly at the banner along with his teammates, and knowing that his big move helped to bring the Knights their first championship.
High School North volleyball player Kavin Soundirarajan jumps to spike the ball.,
