Akari Chargers’ Michelle Cobb in action during the PVL Reinforced Conference. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Michelle Cobb, one of the mainstays of Akari, couldn’t stop her tears from falling down after the Chargers remained perfect in the PVL Reinforced Conference.
She knew what this game meant for her crew, which she admitted fought a lot of challenges.
“It made me emotional that even if we did go through a lot of challenges, we, as teammates, stuck together,” Cobb said after orchestrating the offense of Akari which kept its record flawless by eliminating sister team Nxled, 21-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-18 on Thursday at PhilSports Arena.
With a 7-0 card, Akari moved a win away from sweeping the preliminary round and clinching the top seed of the upcoming knockout quarterfinals.
The only team in its path is Farm Fresh, which kept its playoff bid alive after blanking giant-slaying Capital1, 25-17, 25-23, 25-20, in the earlier game.
For a team whose best finish was seventh place, the Chargers have managed to become a force to be reckoned with in the league.
And there is no mystery to their rise.
Akari and Nxled were busy in the offseason with swaps that included coach Taka Minowa, who has brought a winning culture to the team, and scorer Ivy Lacsina.
New era
Recent signings earlier in the year also included Ced Domingo and Grethcel Soltones—those players in addition to the competitive Oly Okaro, their American import, have ushered in a new era for the Chargers, who are even without Alas Pilipinas cogs Faith Nisperos and Fifi Sharma.
“It was a team effort … everyone wants something to happen and that’s something good and better and everyone wants better for the whole team,” Cobb said. “I think the difference was with the help of coach Taka’s leadership and system, he got us in one boat.
“He got us in and told us ‘this is what I wanna do, I hope you guys wanna do it too.’ I think that’s why we are 7-0 now because we followed him and we trusted and were patient with each other no matter what.”
Aside from the gritty Foxies, who will be all in to secure a seat in the quarterfinals, the other challenge for the Chargers is staying healthy. And it could greatly affect Akari’s plan for dominance.
“We have been through three five-setters in the preliminaries alone so we have injuries and teammates getting sick,” Cobb told the Inquirer in a separate interview. “It’s difficult to lose players, especially coach Taka bases our game plan depending on our opponent and his personnel. So if we lose people, the potential is wasted.”
And she knows that with the great power they are wielding, comes a certain amount of responsibility to the people around them.
“I hope [it continues]. Momentum-wise we are already there. I think our enemy is the mounting pressure because [part of being] an unbeaten team [is] that all eyes will be on us. So I think the best thing to do is we keep on pushing,” she said.
“We’re already here, why should we stop?”