Despite taking a rousing victory in Game One against arch-rival Air Force, Cignal co-captains Ysay Marasigan and Marck Espejo believe that the HD Spikers must keep their intensity from start to finish to complete their title conquest.
With the opening salvo underway, the HD Spikers figured in a lackadaisical start and played catch up the entire set. Cignal ended up dropping the first set to the defending champions.
This is the first time that the HD Spikers faced a complete Jet Spikers squad. When both teams played each other in the elimination round, Bryan Bagunas, Kim Malabunga, Francis Saura, and Madz Gampong did not play in the game as they were training in Japan.
“First game namin sa Air Force na may Bagunas.
“Kumpleto sila so nung first set hindi namin alam yung gagalawin namin. Nag intay kami sa gagawin nila, sobrang stiff namin nung first set,” recalled Espejo, following his 19-point outing in Game One.
As Cignal head coach Dexter Clamor bared, due to some reason, his team’s intensity was nowhere to be found in the first frame. “Actually, obvious naman slow start talaga [kami]. Siguro kulang sa warm-up,” he lamented.
Luckily for him, the rest of his squad were able to pick up their pace and brought the fight in the following set which saw their lead balloon up to 12 points, pouncing on a defenseless Jet Spikers
“Pero ayun nga, second set hanggang fourth set binalik namin yung intensity ng team, gumana,” said Espejo.
“Nagtiwala lang kami sa system, sa process, nagtiwala kami sa isa’t isa, yung team work kagaya ng laging sinasabi ni coaches namin – yun lang yung pinanghawakan namin kaya nakabawi kami and nagtuloy tuloy,” added Marasigan, who contributed 12 points in the win.
With his team one win away from finally claiming vengeance on the same team that denied them the title a year ago, Espejo and Marasigan know that Cignal must control the tempo right at the opening buzzer in order completely fend off Air Force.
“Mas intense na Cignal ang gagawin namin.
“Like pag pasok namin zero-zero, first set start strong talaga kaagad hindi yung medyo maghihintay pa kami, kakapain yung gagawin ng Air Force. As much as possible kami yung mag-lead ng tempo ng game dapat kami yung mag lead,” he said.
“Nung nakita naman sa game, siguro yung intensity pa namin dadagdagan talaga simula pa lang para maganda talaga yung kalabasan nung mga susunod pang sets,” Marasigan added.
