‘Time to prove yourself’

UST-KAMENOGORSK, Kazakhstan—Let’s not go home without a win.

Rebisco-PSL Manila head coach Francis Vicente urged his players to win the team’s last game at all cost and at least match the Philippines’ best finish in the Asian Women’s Club Championship (AWCC).

The country finished seventh in its last AWCC stint and a win in their next game would give the Filipinos the same ranking.

“Now this is time to prove yourself. We still have one more game. You should not lose to Vietnam. I don’t want to go home without a win,” Vicente told his players after dropping a close match to Iran’s Sarmayeh Bank on Tuesday, 25-23, 25-17, 29-27.

The Philippine club, whose core will form the national team, is expected to play Vietin Bank of Vietnam on Wednesday. It has dropped all five games so far including one against the Vietnamese club (25-21, 17-25, 25-20, 25-14) in the group stage.

Gametime is 11:30 a.m. Manila time.

The Philippines has been playing strongly the past two games here but has generally lacked the ability to finish off sets. That weakness was highlighted in the loss to the Iranian side, where the Filipinos could have notched two set wins.

“Those two sets, those were ours to lose,” said Vicente. “But then again, these are experiences we have to gain playing in international level. There are plenty more things we need to work on.”

Rebisco-PSL Manila’s all-heart brand of play earned it a share of fans at Boris Alexandrov Sports Palace, but it has done little in satisfying Vicente.

“Yes you have the fighting heart, but we need more,” added Vicente.

Jaja Santiago, a spectacularly agile 6-foot-5 spiker, accounted for 14 points for the Philippines.