Philippine Navy. Photo from Spikers’ Turf Facebook account
Philippine Navy grounded Instituto Estetico Manila, 28-30, 25-19, 28-26, 14-25, 15-12, Saturday at San Juan Arena to bag the last Final Four slot in the Spikers’ Turf Reinforced Conference.
Nur Amin Madsari propelled the Sailors to the semifinals with an off-the-block kill off the Phoenix Volley Masters’ defense.
Sailors head coach Rene Gaspillo said overcoming a three-game losing streak was difficult for the team as most players are fresh recruits from Tawi-Tawi who are undergoing Navy training.
“The problem was we lacked the training, most of our recruits would attend lectures in the day on how to act in the Navy, and they’re all tired once night falls,” Gaspillo said as his team locked the fourth seed with a 2-3 record. “We try to fit in as much training during the evenings.”
Madsari not only scored the winning point but his back-to-back blocks gave the Sailors a 13-11 lead in the fifth set.
Gaspillo said another motivation he used to his team’s advantage was the imminent departure of team captain John Junio who would go to Australia after the tournament.
“It’s not yet over, I told them. And their captain would leave and I want this conference as sort of a farewell gift the team could give him.”
Madsari led the Sailors with 21 points while Razzel Palisoc and Edgardo Rusit added 16 and 10 points, respectively.
Michael Zamora led the 1-4 IEM with 25 points while Eden Canlas added 16.