IT was a bumpy ride for the debuting Bureau of Customs but what’s important was the Transformers were able to reach their target destination.
And after losing its semifinals series opener to BaliPure, Customs had to dig deep in its arsenal and almost blew a two-set lead in the deciding Game Three on Wednesday before getting its act together in the fifth set and reached the finals of the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Reinforced Conference.
The Transformers showed resiliency in the knockout game and hacked a thrilling 25-21, 25-16, 24-26, 8-25. 15-8 win over the Purest Water Defenders to get the right of meeting Pocari Sweat in the best-of-three finals.
“‘Yung BaliPure lalaban at lalaban ‘yan tinalo nga kami ng dalawang beses ng straight sets so talagang hindi naman kami nagkumpiyansa talagang gumanda lang ‘yung laro nila,” Customs Head Coach Sherwin Meneses said.
Alyssa Valdez, who played for BaliPure in the Open Conference, knew that her ex-teammates and Coach Tai Bundit will be tough.
“Hindi talaga susuko ‘yung mga ‘yan siguro sinuwerte lang kami, breaks of the game lang talaga napunta rin sa amin. You really have to start strong, stay strong and end stronger, it happened naman sa fifth set,” Valdez said.
BaliPure trailed early in Game Three but came back strong in the fourth and fifth sets to force a deciding set.
Meneses told his wards to keep their focus and play as a team.
“Hindi naman natin alam kung ano mangyayari sa five sets eh. Sabi ko nga noong una, labanan ng mental toughness ‘yan so yung break napunta sa amin tapos siyempre lamang kami kasi may Alyssa kami meron kaming coach sa loob,” he shared.
Customs’ starting unit did not play in the fourth set as BaliPure pulled away with the win and tied the game at two-all.
The decision of Meneses to rest his starters gave them the chance to rest and observe what went wrong to make the necessary adjustments in the fifth set.
And it paid off, with opposite spiker Kanjana Kuthaisong moving to open spiker that allowed theThai import to be more effective in the match.
“Going to the fifth set, we tried to adjust, try to be more aggressive and to play all out, it worked really well,” said Valdez, who finished with 16 points including 17 digs.
“Katulad ng sinabi namin noong Game Two the imports really wanted it so bad na makabawi rin talaga and to play their best and contribute to the team so kailangan naming gawing mga locals tulungan sila,” Valdez added.
Meneses and Valdez both recalled the challenges the team encountered early on, including the problems of their Thai imports due to lack of International Transfer Certificates.
But they did not lose hope as the Transformers were able to survive and now play in the finals in their debut conference.
“Noong una pa lang talagang di na mabuo ‘yung team agad challenge lang naman talaga, in-accept lang namin ‘yung challenge tapos trabahuhin lang nang mabuti,” Meneses said.
“Syempre it’s been a super long road na pinagdaanan namin talaga and ngayon konti na lang talaga, konting lakad or takbo or sprint naroon na rin kami sa dulo,” Valdez said.