Guest player Krystal Rivers rued the poor start which doomed Pocari Sweat in Game 2 of the 2017 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference women’s division Finals on Tuesday.
“We just have to focus on starting strong. That’s what we didn’t do as a team today,” she quipped.
Looking to close the best-of-three series quick, the Lady Warriors started out flat and gave up the first set, 25-15, before failing to equalize the match in a tight Set 2, 26-24.
Though Pocari Sweat still made a late run to force a deciding fifth set, Grethcel Soltones brandished her strength for Bali Pure to extend the series to a winner-take-all Game 3.
The 23-year-old Rivers said that the Lady Warriors must find a way to fix those woes if they want end their season with a title.
“We’ll go and evaluate, watch the match, and focus on changing and doing better in the next game in starting strong,” she said.
Rivers unleashed 26 points, all of which coming from attacks, to lead the fight for Pocari Sweat in Game 2.
Despite the Lady Warriors allowing the Finals series to go the distance, Rivers is confident that whatever mistakes they committed will no longer be the case come Thursday.
“We’re pretty confident. We fought at the end of this game and the plan is to come back and fight harder the next time. We have training tomorrow and make the necessary adjustments and come out ready to fight on Thursday,” said the former SEC Player of the Year.
And that goes for herself, too, as Rivers made it clear that she only has one goal on her mind in this short stint in the PVL: to win the championship.
“I’m just going to go out there and play my game. They will probably make adjustments so I have to adjust. That’s the game of volleyball and I try to be the best volleyball player that I can be and try to help my team win a championship,” she said. “It’s pretty quick (stint) so I want to make the most of it, and making the most of it is winning a championship. I want to do everything I can to leave with a championship.”
Game 3 is on Thursday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.