V-League: Air Force shakes off poor start, finishes PLDT in four
MANILA, Philippines—Starting off shaky in the opening set, the Philippine Air Force Air Spikers dropped the bombs on the PLDT Turbo Boosters in the succeeding frames to record a 16-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-12 victory in the first game of the best-of-three bronze medal series of the Shakey’s V-League at the Arena in San Juan Thursday afternoon.
Late reserve Liza de Ramos notched the victory, and her only point of the match, with a light tap that found the unguarded middle court of PLDT to finish off a brilliant fourth set for Air Force.
Alternate coach Jessie Lopez said the players adjusted well after their first set blunder as they played without head coach Clarence Esteban who got the marching orders from the higher-ups of the PAF to focus on the upcoming Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police Games.
“First set was, of course, an adjustment for us, because I am not that of an expert when it comes to their playing styles,” said Lopez who was informed that he would take charge as coach on Sunday. “After the first set, I just told them to enjoy the game, and that’s when it started to click.”
He added that there was some pressure put on him as it was the first time that he coached the team and in a medal series as that.
“There was pressure for me, but it was a challenge and an exciting one,” Lopez said.
Air Force was just starting to take off with an unfamiliar head pilot in the first set when they got butchered with quick attacks from PLDT which now played with supreme attacker Dindin Santiago.
From the second set until the last, adjustment seemed to look like a thing of the past with the succeeding sets looking at a more potent Air Force.
PAF staged a 10-3 run in the fourth set to put the boards at 20-8, and held off the Turbo Boosters in the trenches to secure the first match.
Maika Ortiz led the aerial assault of the Air Force with 19 points with Jociemer Tapic coming in second with 16 points.
Judy Caballejo and Iari Yongco added 15 and 11, respectively, for Air Force.
Santiago led PLDT with 16 while teammate Suzanne Roces added 10.
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