USPF bashed home team University of St. La Salle (USLS) of Bacolod City in the opening match of the Shakey’s Tournament of Champions at the USLS covered courts yesterday, 18-25, 25-20, 25-19, 29-27.
Practicing on the same court every single day and having all of their school-mates skip classes to boost their campaign did little to help for USLS, as it succumbed to the prowess of the Cebu team.
USPF coach Jordan Paca had a fleeting moment of alarm, upon seeing their opponents, who, according to Paca, looked intimidating because of their size.
Intimidating
“It was intimidating to see that they will be going up against a bigger team. They have three players who are members of the national team, They were really big. I have tall players but they were just taller. We lost the first set because we had to adjust to the opponent, the crowd and the playing venue,” said Paca.
First impressions, however, do not last, as USPF found the weakness and capitalizing on it, swept the next three sets to win the match.
USLS, however, showed signs of life in the fourth set. Down by 6, 12-18, it initiated a furious comeback, scoring eight of the next 10 points to tie the game at 20. This was then followed by eight deadlocks until 27-all.
What sealed the outcome were the back to back attacks of Kaisse delos Santos and Danika Gendraule for USPF to win the game.
Charilou Wava Paden and Apple Saraun were also important factors in the win as they combined for 58 points including 27 kills. (MCB)
