Monday, March 07, 2005
Chinese wallop Indons
By Glenn C. Michelena
THE Philippines ended its campaign with another win but not before getting the scare of its life from Tonga
The Filipinos, playing minus their trademark intensity, coughed up a nail-biting, five-set win over Tonga, 25- 27, 25- 20, 20- 25, 25- 21, 15- 12 in the last game of the 2006 World Volleyball Championships First Round (Pool ASI-C Qualifier) at the University of San Carlos Gym yesterday.
Earlier, Chinese-Taipei completed a sweep of the tournament after defeating Indonesia in four sets, 25- 17, 25- 22, 22- 25, 26- 24, and backed up the bold statement of its coach, Chang Mu San, who declared before the match that his team would only need four sets to beat the Indons.
Brilliant strategy
RP team coach Sergio Isada, on the other hand, showcased his brilliance on game strategy by making a series of astute moves that proved to be the difference in the Filipinos’ win.
With his team in unexpected territory, trailing two sets to one going into the third set against the only winless team in the competition, Isada pulled out team captain Ariel dela Cruz and starting outside hitter Edcer Penetrante. He replaced them with Janley Patrona and Jeffrey San Jose, then sat back and watched as his concoction resulted into a dominating run in the fourth and final sets.
“I had to do something drastic in the line-up combination because the team came out flat in the first three sets,” said Isada, who disclosed that his team was feeling down after losing to Indonesia last Friday. The loss blew the Filipinos’ opportunity of finishing second, as well as its chance to advance to the next round.
“The crowd was rooting for us to walk over Tonga, so there was pressure to deliver. I’m just glad the plan worked and the team got revitalized in the last two sets.”
Right after the Filipinos’ win came the tournament’s awarding ceremonies. The championship went to Chinese-Taipei, which will advance to the Kazakhstan leg, while the second placer got a ticket to the India qualifier, went to Indonesia.
Two Philippine players – setter Ariel de la Cruz and Libero Avelino Tongco –took home two of the event’s seven major individual awards at stake, making up for the host team’s No.3 finish.
Dela Cruz took home the Best Setter honors, while Tongco, a diminutive 5-foot-4 sparkplug, won the “Most Popular Player” award.
Four awards
Chines-Taipei on the other hand, garnered four individual awards, including the prestigious Most Valuable Player honors, which went to its fiery team captain Lin Hsien Chen.
Chinese-Taipei outside hitter Lien Chien Chih, a 6-1 jumping jack whose jump-serves often resembled zinging cannonballs, won the Best Server award as expected, while his anime-character teammate, Chen Hsuan Jui, won the Best Libero award. Chinese-Taipei’s veteran middle blocker, 6-5 Teng Cheng Wei, also took home hardware, the Best Blocker award.
The 6-5 Indonesian Rudi Tirtana, a 20-year-old spiking terror with a 332-centimeter spike reach, was awarded the Best Spiker award.
(March 7, 2005 issue)
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