Phu Ly, Vietnam (CNN Philippines) — Reigning champion Hisamitsu Seiyaku Springs of Japan flaunted its old, dominant self to crush Petron, 25-5, 25-16, 25-12, in the 2015 AVC Asian Club Women’s Volleyball Championship late Tuesday (September 15) at the Ha Nam Competition Hall in Vietnam.
With Serbian reinforcement Tatjana Bokan and national team mainstays Yuki Ishii and Miyu Nagaoka doing damage, the Japanese needed only an hour and seven minutes to clobber the Blaze Spikers, who advanced to this prestigious tournament after dominating the Philippine Superliga (PSL) Grand Prix last year.
The Blaze Spikers will be wrapping up their pool play assignments against Zhejiang of China at 7 p.m. on Wednesday (September 16), before competing in the classification match for 5th to 12th places on Friday (September 18).
Expectations, however, should be tempered as Zhejian is powered by former national team members and seasoned international campaigners.
In fact, it pulled off a five-set conquest of mighty Japan on Monday to remain unscathed in three games.
Bokan delivered 13 kills and three blocks to finish with 16 points while Ishii and Nagaoka chipped in eight and five points, respectively, while starring in that red-hot first set rally that broke the back of the Blaze Spikers.
Veteran Yumi Mizuta was also impressive with eight kills for a total of 11 points.
“Playing against these Asian superstars was a great experience for us,” said Petron coach George Pascua. “We may have lost the game, but we won a lot of experience which we could use when we compete in the PSL Grand Prix next month.”
Armed with the latest volleyball technology, an army of team officials and a solid scouting report and profile of all the players, the Japanese jumped the gun early and brandished their flawless game to race to an early 8-1 advantage in the first technical timeout.
Skipper Maica Morada managed to squeeze in a kill to give Petron its second point, but Nagaoka, Ishii and Bokan fired back with nine straight hits to put Japan way ahead, 17-2, to completely crush the morale of the Blaze Spikers following that impressive straight-set victory over Iran Monday night.
“I told them to target the Japanese spikers from the service box to throw them out of their comfort zone,” Pascua said. “But that plan also didn’t work. The Japanese libero was everywhere. That team was so good and so disciplined to be beaten just like that.”
Dindin Manabat delivered all of her seven kills on spikes while Frances Molina and import Rupia Inck Furtado chipped in four points apiece for the Blaze Spikers, who were obviously star-strucked early on before somehow regaining their composure in the second set.
The lone bright spot, however, was Brazilian reinforcement Erica Adachi, who tallied 47 of Petron’s 55 excellent sets.
