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Power Pinays rout Singapore, face unscathed top seed Japan in knockout q’final of Asian club volley tilt

QUARTERFINALS SEEDINGS:

GROUP A: (1) Hisamitsu Springs (JPN), (2) Nakhor Ratchasima (THA), (3) Thong Tin Lienvietpostbank (VIE), (4) Matin Varamin (IRI)

GROUP B: (1) Bohai Bank Tianjin (CHN), (2) Zhetyssu (KAZ), (3) Chinese Taipei (TPE), (4) PLDT Home TVolution (PHI)

MATCHES ON WEDNESDAY (April 22nd)

12:00NN (1:00 PH time)—(1A) JPN vs. (4B) PHI

2:00PM (3:00PM PH time)—(1B) CHN vs. (4A) IRI

4:00PM (5:00PM PH time)—(2A) THA vs. (3B) TPE

6:00PM (7:00PM PH time)—(2B) KAZ vs. (3B) VIE

Despite three consecutive setbacks, the PLDT Home TVolution-Philippines’ match against VAS-Singapore was a mere formality.

The Power Pinays’ 25-8, 25-19, 25-9 shellacking of the only winless squad in the tournament was enough to propel the Filipinas into the knockout quarterfinal stage of the 17th Princess Cup-Chang Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship in Nakhom Pathom, Thailand.

The Philippine contingent now gear up for a challenging tiff against the unblemished Hisamitsu Springs-Japan, knowing that a ticket to the semifinals may take a miracle. However, the Power Pinays did flex their muscles against the smaller and more inexperienced Singaporeans with punishing attacks and stifling net defense.

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There were even spells where the Singaporeans would not be able to answer a 10-0 Philippine run and they were completely owned in the first set. In the second set, a series of errors just couldn’t keep any form of momentum alive for the Power Pinays as VAS matched them point for point all the way until the last deadlock of 10-all.

In the third set, the Philippines raced to a 10-0 lead and the rout was officially on. The Power Pinays never looked back and even had the opportunity to give injured players Jovelyn Gonzaga (ankle) and Angge Tabaquero (shoulder) a chance to see some spot action just to stretch the afflictions a bit before the much needed rest day heading into the quarterfinals.

Cuban legend Regal Bell-Mackenzie unleashed a game-high 23 points—which included five service aces—to pace the Power Pinays while (now) 6’6” teenage sensation Jaja Santiago and veteran international campaigner Suzanne Roces added thirteen and eleven points, respectively.

The win had the Philippine team finishing Group B as the fourth ranked team and is now slated to pull the biggest upset of them all by facing the mighty Hisamitsu Springs-Japan squad; a team that has not even relinquished a single set throughout the tournament—and they’re even in what is called the “Group Of Death” with powerhouses Matin Varamin-Iran, Thong Tin Lienvietpostbank-Vietnam and the host nation represented by Nakhor Ratchasima.

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In fact the Japanese left the other three teams in its group to just go after each other as all three finished with similar 1-2 win-loss slates.

Hisamitsu Springs—owned and operated by Hisamitsu Pharmaceuticals (yes, the creators of “Salonpas”)—is one of the oldest professional sports teams in Asia as it was formed way back in 1948 in the sport of baseball.

When the Japan League first opened its doors in 1981, the Springs were among its inaugural franchises and eventually captured its first league title during the 2001-02 season.

Many say that the present squad is the strongest women’s volleyball team in Japan being back-to-back Japan V-Premier League reigning titlists as well as defending champions in the Empress Cup and the Kurowashiki All Japan Volleyball Championship.

Among its elite members are Olympic veterans Risa Shinnabe and Mizuho Ishida while everyone else has just graduated from the Japanese Youth Team and—not surprisingly—are all members of the Japanese Women’s Senior Team that will be seeing action in all the top tier competitions this year, including the Asian Games in Inchon, Korea this October.

Their Head Coach is Kumi Nakada who served the national team as a player from 1982-1992 and was a part of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics bronze medal squad in women’s indoor volleyball.

In short, this is a team with a rich winning tradition utilizing a tried and test system employing some of the best players of an entire national team program and are peaking at just the right time. Although we like to say “bilog ang bola (the ball is round—anything can happen)” this is going to be an extremely tall order for our intrepid Power Pinays, to say the least.

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Hisamitsu Springs has not even yielded a single set during the whole tournament and this means they are playing at the top of their game.

But again, the Power Pinays program is in its infancy and there is so much wealth to be gained in terms of knowledge and experience by clashing with one of the best teams in the continent in the knockout stages. The winner will go on to face the victor of the Zhetyssu-Kazakhstan/Thong Tin Lienvietpostbank-Vietnam tiff in the semis after the Kazakhs shocked Chinese Taipei in their final preliminary round match to clinch the second seed in Group B.

So let’s see how far the PLDT Home TVolution-Philippines squad will take an Asian powerhouse. Their match kicks off the quarterfinals on Wednesday (April 22nd) at 12:00NN (1:00PM, Philippine time).

Enjoy the rest day, ladies. You have a tough task ahead, but making it to the Elite Eight is a big positive in itself.

There are still the classification stages to content, should the Power Pinays fall short. Maybe a good wager could be can they have a better placing than the Power Pinoys which salvaged seventh place in the recently concluded PLDT Home Fibr Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship held in Pasay City.

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I’ll definitely be among the thousands of Filipinos scampering to make the quota of those live streaming sites already bookmarked on many PCs across the archipelago. #LabanPilipinas #Puso

BOX SCORES:

PHI—Bell-Mackenzie 23, Santiago 13, Roces 11, Balse 5, Daquis 3, Tanyama 3, Tabaquero 1, Gata-Pantone (L) 0, Dionela (L) 0, Argarin 0, Tubino 0, Gonzaga 0.

SIN—Chan 7, Quek 7, Yeo 4, Phoa 2, Tan 2, Chew 2, Phua (L) 0, Seet 0.

Follow Noel Zarate (@NoelZarate) and email sportztackle@yahoo.com