Marlo Cueto / Inquirer.net
Playing in his first international tournament, PLDT knows that he will have to intensify his high time in order to face the League of the Asian Volleyball Confederation filled with high caliber teams.
This is why even after taking a defeat of 26-24, 25-20, 20-25, 20-25, 15-9 in the hands of the Thai crew Nakhon Ratchasima Qminc VC Tuesday in Philsports Arena, high-speed strikers see a very thick silver lining go forward.
“(What we do) is to bear fruit at low,” said Libero seasoned and captain Kath Arado, proud to push the solid Thais in rock before the limit before switching to 1-1 to finish second in the swimming pool D which sealed a confrontation in the quarter-finals with the Pool A Top Seedysu VC Thursday.
“This is what we said in the pre-match, to give everything whatever the result and we agree with this,” said coach Rald Ricafort. “There is no team that plays at a level higher than a champion team of Thailand, so we have played well and we are proud of our performance.”
The Thai people will be the problem of another local cream team in the quarter-finals, after the cool smashers finished second when Zhetysu VC delivered another MasterClass performance in a 25-10, 25-15, 25-11 victory.
The Kazakhstan champions were in control from start to finish, crushing the Jordanians and leaving no windows for the resistance as they capped with the pool play with a spotless record – fueling their momentum before the quarter -finals.
Creamline also ended with a 1-1 file for n ° 2 in his swimming pool, with Al Naser, who also lost in straight sets against cool smashers, ending without victory.
“I think it shows that the Philippines can compete,” said Savi Davison after finishing with 25 points to lead Pldt, who lost an advance of 8-7 in the fifth set. “They (Thai) were, I think (bronze medalists) in their league, so it’s a big problem for us to push them to five (sets).”
Great early deficit
The six champions showed their power early, heading to a two sets using a large ground defense associated with powerful strokes.
PLDT then scratched its level to pull the level while Wilma Salas helped a lot.
“It is a good experience to participate in this league and to play against international teams,” said Kim Kianna Dy after scoring 12 points. “Very happy with the way we played, that we were able to push him to five sets. So for us, we saw that we can play with them”,
“To a certain extent, we have acquired a lot of experience,” said Ricafort. “But our players still want to compete and improve each match.
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“We will continue to do this. We are close (what we want to achieve), and we are well,” he said. “We know that we are going to go up because this tournament requires it.” Inq
