THE women’s national team disposed of Smart-Army, 25-16, 25-17, 25-17, to complete a three-game sweep of its buildup campaign in the Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga (PSL) Invitational 2018 on Thursday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Only eight players saw action but the nationals survived the Giga Hitters, who gave them their toughest exhibition match especially in the third set.
The nationals were not a complete team in all their three matches in the tournament but never lost a single set to Cocolife, Cignal and Smart-Army as they prepare for the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia next month.
“We’re happy with the performance of the team. We haven’t trained yet and we’re always incomplete during games,” national team Head Coach Shaq de los Santos said.
“We’re not so prepared for the invitational but we are so proud because all the players who played performed their best. Hopefully, this is the start of a good relationship within the team,” he added.
Jaja Santiago stood out among the eight players with 15 points on 12 kills with seven excellent receptions, while Mylene Paat chipped in nine hits for the nationals.
MJ Phillips and Maika Ortiz delivered seven points apiece, while Dindin Santiago-Manabat and CJ Rosario added six and five points, respectively.
Rebecca Rivera was named player of the game after she made 23 excellent sets on top of nine digs and four points for the national team. Libero Denden Lazaro made 12 digs and seven excellent receptions.
The nationals squandered an 8-4 lead in the third set and allowed the Giga Hitters to nail 11 of the next 13 points for a 15-10 advantage they preserved to 17-14.
But the nationals refused to wilt and answered back with 11 straight points to end the match in 71 minutes.
Nobody scored in double figures for Smart-Army with Nene Bautista and Lut Malaluan leading the way with eight and seven points, respectively.