Superliga: Bautista fires 16 as Generika-Army foils RC-Air Force
Nene Bautista (left) and head coach Rico De Guzman of Generika-Army answer questions from the media after Wednesday’s win. CELEST FLORES-COLINA/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Nene Bautista soared to a conference high 16 points as Generika-Army foiled RC Cola-Airforce, 25-21, 27-29, 25-20, 25-21, Wednesday in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference.
The veteran Bautista, who has had a quiet campaign before today, fired 13 hits to give the Lady Troopers a lift to third straight win and third-place tie with AirAsia at 3-2.
“I’m really happy to see her become the best player. I’ve been waiting for a game like this from her. We really need input from everybody,” said head coach Rico De Guzman.
The 28-year-old power hitter admitted that she has a new-found confidence in herself.
“I felt like I’m not that heavy anymore,” Bautista said in the post-game interview. “I really did everything I could to help the team.”
Bautista, though, got solid back-up from Jovelyn Gonzaga, Rachel An Daquis and Tina Salak who all combined for 36 points for Generika-Army.
Salak, whose arrival really turned things around for the Lady Troopers in the last three games, also had five blocks and 33 excellent sets.
De Guzman, whose squad had a 96-60 edge in block attempts, really expected Generika-Army’s defense to make the difference in this game.
“I told the players before the game that it’s going to boil down on reception and blocking. We really needed to stop their offense. We got the win because of good reception and defense,” he said.
The Lady Troopers could’ve wrapped up the game earlier but they kept on allowing the Raiders to come alive.
“We always relax when we get a good lead. We really relaxed in the second set and that allowed them to get back in the game,” De Guzman said.
Joy Cases and Iari Yongco led RC Cola Airforce, which missed a chance at an outright semifinals berth, with 16 points each but the Raiders threw away 37 points on errors.
RC Cola Airforce absorbed only its second setback with the first loss coming at the hands of Petron Blaze.
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