THE Philippines’s national women’s volleyball squad will have the unenviable task of facing an unbeaten Chinese squad, when the knockout phase of the 2015 Asian Women’s Under-23 Volleyball Championship commences on Thursday at the PhilSports Arena.
The match is set at 4 p.m., with the winning team advancing to face either South Korea or Chinese Taipei in the semifinals on Friday.
Already battered and bruised during the four matches thus far in the classification phase, the nationals—led by skipper Alyssa Valdez—will have to get their acts together following back-to-back losses against East Asian giants Japan and Chinese Taipei entering the momentary break in action on Wednesday.
On the other hand, China, billed as one of the tournament’s favorites to win a slot in the Ankara, Turkey, worlds later this year, nearly won all their matches in straight sets, except for a huge five-set scare against South Korea during their first classification match in Group F.
Head Coach Roger Gorayeb said that their impending matchup with China is something that he relishes for the girls, as the team needs to gain all the much-needed experience against powerhouse squads in the region to build their resolve as a unit and gain the respect from the other squads.
“China is very, very, very strong. Tanggap na naming mahirap. This is a learning process for us. Biruin mo, if we did not enter the second round, hindi natin mae-experience lumaban sa Japan, sa China, sa Chinese Taipei,” Gorayeb said.
“Ang kagandahan is that napapansin na tayo. Hindi na tayo minemenos. Gusto namin ma-respeto kami. Dati binabale wala lang nila kami. Maganda na nirerespeto na nila ang mga ability ng mga bata. What more pa kung two years pa at kinakalaban na natin sila.”
The Philippines’s latest loss, a four-set 25-21, 18-25, 12-25, 19-25 decision to Chinese Taipei, however, left a bad taste in their mouth as the young and relatively inexperienced Philippine team had to go through perceived bad calls in the fourth set that changed the match’s complexion.
Gorayeb refused to go into detail or further comment on the calls made by the officiating team of Bae Sunok of Korea and Sio Kit Wa of Macau, but said that numerous erroneous calls during the pivotal fourth set turned the tide and deflated their campaign.
“The players should always control the tempo of the game. There were some crucial calls against us, ‘di ko malaman kung bakit. We were almost there, then suddenly there were some calls that went,” Gorayeb rued.
“Ang hirap magsalita, mabigat kasi nanghihinayang ako sa efforts ng mga players natin. Andoon na, pero biglang may tatawag na alanganin, magugulat ka. Hindi ko alam kung bakit,” he added.
Among the calls in question were the multiple net touch violations whistled on the Philippine blockers during the points of the set where the team was attempting to gain momentum while trailing by a manageable margin.
Gorayeb, a veteran collegiate coach with perennial title contenders San Sebastian College, Ateneo de Manila, and National University, said that the calls shouldn’t have been whistled as the net came into contact with the players’ hands and not vice-versa.