MABABANGIS AT GUTOM SA TITULO ANG CARGO AT BLAZE

PAGKAGUTOM at hangaring magwagi sa final ang siyang nasa puso ng Pet­ron at F2 Logis­tics sa kani­lang paglarga sa Philip­pine Superliga All-Filipino Con­ference best-of-three finals duel simula bukas (Sa­bado) sa Mall of Asia Arena.

Aminado si Cargo Mo­­vers’ head coach Ra­mil de Jesus na ang tsan­sang muling maangkin ang korona ay de­pende sa kanilang hangarin na manalo sa prestihiyosong women’s club tourney. May rason ang F2 Logis­tics na magpursige sa serye na isinasaere ng ESPN5.

Ang Cargo Movers ang dating All-Filipino cham­pions nang maaga­wan sila ng korona ng Blaze Spikers mula nang maglaro si star blocker Mika Reyes, Remy Palma, Sisi Rondina at Ber­nadeth Pons.

Ang pagkatalo ang pina­kamasakit na rivalry sa Phi­lippine volleyball kung saan magsasagupa ang teams sa susunod na apat na titular showdowns, ka­bilang na ang dramati­kong engkuwentro noong 2017 Grand Prix kung saan si Venezuelan import Maria Jose Perez ay suma­lang sa Game 2 kahit na na­kaburol ang kapatid niyang lalaki. “Just like before, winning in the finals all depends on their willingness and desire,” ayon kay Jesus, na seryo­song talunin ng kapwa Far Eastern University alumni na si Petron coach Shaq De­los Santos sa kanilang uta­kan na laban.

“Hopefully, they would want it more. They worked hard to get into the finals. They should do every­thing to finish the job.”

Alam ni De Jesus na napakahirap pabagsakin ng Blaze Spikers.

Bukod sa dating player na si Reyes, ibabalandra ng Blaze Spikers ang mga be­teranang sina Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, Ging Balse-Pa­bayo at Rhea Dimaculangan maging ang attackers na sina Fran­ces Molina, Chloe Cor­tez, Rondina, Pons at Car­mela Tunay.

“Having a deep rota­tion has been the major advan­tage of Petron,” saad ni de Jesus, na ila­laban ang natio­nal team stalwarts na sina Kim Fajardo, Kianna Dy, Aby Marano, Majoy Baron at Cha Cruz.

“At this point, I have very limited personnel. But inside the court, both of us will have only six players. So it really de­pends on how willing and how hungry we are to win the crown.”

Sang-ayon si Delos San­tos kay de Jesus, at aniya ang pressure ang nasa kanila nang maka­walis ng 12 con­secutive wins sa conference.

“Of course, the pres­sure is there,” ani Delos Santos, at sinabing mata­linong stra­tegist si de Jesus at madaling mag­plano ng mabangis na pagresbak. “But I’m tel­ling the team that this is already the cham­pion­ship. What­ever hap­pened before doesn’t matter anymore. We should go into the series with a fresh mind­set with our eyes set on our goal.”(MC)