The Philippine national women’s team shut down its campaign on a high note as it dominated Smart-Army, 25-16, 25-17, 25-17, in the Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga Invitational Conference yesterday at the Filoil Flying V Arena.
Despite competing with a depleted roster, the Nationals still made their presence felt as they clobbered the veteran-laden Giga Hitters to complete their three-game sweep of this prestigious club tourney bankrolled by Isuzu, UCPB Gen and SOGO Hotel with ESPN5, Hyper HD and Aksyon TV as broadcast partners.
Less than half of the 20 players in the pool showed up for the Nationals in their previous games, but they still managed to pull off convincing wins over Cocolife, Cignal and Smart-Army in this conference that also has Senoh, Asics, Mikasa, Mueller and Grand Sport as technical sponsors.
“We’re happy with the performance of the team. We haven’t train yet and we’re always incomplete during games,” said national squad Coach Shaq Delos Santos. “We’re not so prepared for the Invitationals but we are so proud because all the players who played performed their best. Hopefully, this is the start of the good relationship of the team.”
Santiago led the way with 15 points off 12 kills including seven excellent receptions while Mylene Paat, MJ Phillips, and Maika Ortiz chipped in seven points apiece for the Nationals, who also drew impressive numbers from Dindin Santiago-Manabat and CJ Rosario.
But the day belonged to Rebecca Rivera, who was named as player of the game after pacing the team with 23 excellent sets on top of nine digs and four points.
