The Rising Suns kept that in mind and never gave the Lady Sailors even a slim opening to fashion out a 25-14, 25-14, 25-9, beatdown Tuesday afternoon in the Shakey’s V-League Season 9 Open Conference at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
“Ang kalaban natin beterano ’yan, kahit medyo mahina ’yan malakas pa rin isip n’yan, gagawa at gagawa ng diskarte ’yan,” Rafael said to his team prior to the game.
Navy, though, hardly showed any resistance as Cagayan came out strong.
Sandra de los Santos led the onslaught with 19 points, including seven service aces.
At one point, the 20-year-old De los Santos converted on four straight aces as part of the Rising Suns’ 13-0 blast, shattering a 2-2 tie in the third set.
Honey Tubino added 12 markers for Cagayan, which ended its first round of eliminations with a 3-2 record.
Joy Cases and Jen Manzano chipped in with 11 and 8 points respectively to deal Navy’s fourth loss in five games.
Rafael also did some tinkering with his lineup by using Gena Andaya more due to her size.
“Sinasanay ko yung Andaya kasi medyo maliit yung blocking namin,” said Rafael, whom he said his team needs to improve on to beat the fancied Sandugo-San Sebastian and Army.
The Rising Suns open up their second-round campaign versus Far Eastern University and though they won over the Lady Tamaraws in the first round, Rafael remains wary of their capabilities.
“Hopefully we continue to win. Magagaling din ’yan (FE,U) kaso wala lang practice.”