One of the most surprising tactics that the Philippine Army Lady Troopers deployed during their opening game win against the PLDT Home Ultera Ultra Fast Hitters was the heavy minutes given to seasoned spiker Nerissa “Nene” Bautista.
Seeing star spiker Rachel Anne Daquis struggling to get her act together, Army head coach Rico De Guzman immediately put Bautista into the battlefield which suddenly turned the team’s fortune. In that game, Bautista dropped nine points.
“Sa ngayon okay naman [iyong nilaro ko],” Bautista said about playing a pivotal role on her team’s 13-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-22 win. “Naghugot sila ng tao [sa bench] at pinakita ko ang best ko.”
In addition, De Guzman also had high praises for the experience showed by one of her veteran skippers.
“Sobra [ang ganda ng nilaro ni Nene],” he added. “Ang laro na ito mabigat, kailangan ko rin ng tulong galing sa bench at doon din lumabas ang experience nila.”
However, amid all the feel-good praises she had from her coaches and teammates, Bautista plans to avoid complacency and further remarked that she wants to outdo her Finals opener performance since she knows that PLDT will come back stronger and more prepared come the second game of the best-of-three series.
“Sa tingin ko hindi pa [nailabas] ang laro ko. Nagkaroon pa din ako ng errors tulad ng dati,” she added. “Siguro [mag focus ako more sa] blockings kasi hindi ako nakasabay.”
Now, with another V-League title at hand’s reach, Bautista aims to go for the kill and never let PLDT get any momentum to extend the series.
“Siguro kaya pa rin namin [ang PLDT] since nakaya namin dito sa first game,” she ended. “Kakayanin namin [manalo] sa second game.”
Game Two of the Army-PLDT championship series will be tomorrow, 12:45pm, at the FilOil Flying V Arena. The game will be televised live at GMA News TV Channel 11.
