MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine women’s volleyball team suffered a one-sided loss to Japanese club Saga Hisamitsu Springs, 25-19, 25-16, 25-16, on the first day of the Alas Pilipinas Invitationals at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig on Saturday, September 7.
The eight-time Japan SV League champion stamped its masterclass against the Nationals, who had Vanie Gandler and Alyssa Solomon leading with 5 points apiece and Eya Laure chipping in 4 points
Miyu Nakagawa led all players in scoring with 15, while Megumki Fukazawa added 14 markers for the Japanese.
Setter Mars Alba made her national team debut, taking the place of skipper Jia de Guzman, who is already training with the Denso AiryBees in the Japan V. League.
Libero Dawn Macandili-Catindig, on the other hand, took the Alas captain role.
“Both ways, net and floor defense, we are a bit inconsistent so we need to do a better job,” said Macandili-Catindig.
“Now we have actually played them, we’ve learned quite a bit about them and we’re confident we can play better in the next match.”
Alas Pilipinas collides with Saga Hisamitsu Springs anew on Sunday, September 8, at 3 pm.
“The plan today was to field all of them and maybe tomorrow we can give the visitors a tougher time,” said Alas Pilipinas coach Jorge Souza de Brito.
The Japanese visitors also got their way in the men’s side as Osaka Bluteon warded off the spirited Alas Pilipinas Men, 29-27, 25-23, 25-12.
Japanese volleyball superstar Yuji Nishida delivered 15 points, while Thomas Jaeschke added 10 of his own.
On the Philippine side, NU teammates Jade Disquitado and Buds Buddin combined for 21 points.
“The performance was very good for the first two sets, and to play at this level, you need to always raise the level of attention,” said head coach Angiolino Frigoni as his Alas Men battle with Osaka again on Sunday after the women’s match.
“We are not able to stay this long with this attention…but I am pretty happy with what we did today,” he added.
For Alba, it’s third time the charm as the Choco Mucho standout finally answered the call to play for Alas Pilipinas Women following previous invites.
The setter debuted for Alas, but familiarity reigned as she played alongside Flying Titan teammates Sisi Rondina and Cherry Nunag; former F2 teammate Dawn Macandili-Catindig; and former La Salle teammates Julia Coronel, Fifi Sharma, and Thea Gagate.
“I was invited before the conference (PVL All-Filipino), but I declined since my brother came home from Australia, and on the second invite, I was not allowed to join since the (PVL Reinforced) conference was about to start. And now on the third time, I finally played,” Alba told reporters after the game.
“I did not expect to get an invite from coach Jorge for the national team since it was a given I was just converted into a setter. So I didn’t expect to reach this point of playing in the national team,” added the former spiker and libero.
Alba filled the spot left by Alas team captain De Guzman, joining Coronel in the playmaker spot.
De Brito said it was no surprise that he included Alba in the pool, considering her stellar play in the PVL.
“Every time they play good in the PVL, any player can come inside… I called her and asked if she’s available to join us,” De Brito said. “It’s good experience.” – Rappler.com
