PLDT head coach George Pascua aired his side of the story following the High Speed Hitters’ controversial match against Petro Gazz, Monday night.
The High Speed Hitters and the Angels figured in a tight affair late in the fourth set with the former just a point away from sending the game to a decider, 24-23, after coming off two consecutive losses in the second and third frames.
Down by one, Myla Pablo unloaded one from the service line but Kath Arado easily received the ball and passed it to Wendy Semana, who then set it up to import Elena Savkina-Samoilenko.
The Russian spiker was challenged by the duo of Djanel Cheng and MJ Phillips above the net – prompting PLDT head coach George Pascua to call for a challenge in the midst of the rally, believing that one of the two hit the net as they went up for the block.
Both teams went back and forth before Angels reinforcement Lindsey Vander Weide’s attack was swallowed by the net and it was only at that time that officials managed to recognize Pascua’s challenge.
“Regarding po doon sa challenge namin last game, ganito po kasi ang nangyari. Service si Petro Gazz tapos first attack po kami, nung pagkaatake ni Elena [Savkina-Samoilenko], nakita namin may touch the net. Cinall namin yung attention nung table official saka nung second referee, nirecognize naman nila but yung nasa table supposed to be magba-buzzer siya para huminto yung rally,” said Pascua in a video uploaded by the High Speed Hitters.
“Unfortunately, pumito si second referee pero hindi na-recognize ni first referee so tinuloy pa rin nila yung rally and then nag-commit ng error si Petro Gazz so not over supposed to be tapos na dapat kaso doon pa lang na-recognize yung challenge namin,” he continued.
After the challenge was acknowledged, a clip where Samoilenko was dumping the ball toward Petro Gazz’s side was shown. Pascua immediately went to the officials to tell them that it was not the play that he was disputing.
Making things worse for Pascua and the High Speed Hitters was that the sequence that Pascua – who saw the very same play in the TV broadcast – cannot be found in the video challenge system.
“And then after that, yung challenge na hiningi ko sa kanila hindi yun yung video na pinakita nila. Ang sabi nila, yun daw yung na-record sa kanila but nung tinignan ko sa TV5 na video, yung chinachallenge ko meron sila pero mismong video challenge referees hindi nila makita so ang rules kapag hindi makita yung challenge nung concern, irereplay nila roon or ija-jumpball nila,” Pascua said.
“Yung pinakita nilang video hindi yun ang chinachallenge namin kasi logically, hindi namin ichachallenge yun dahil yun ay dinig pass, wala namang block tapos magcha-challenge kami ng touch the net e wala ngang bumlock sa kalaban sa pinakita na video paano kami magcha-challenge ng touch the net ‘di ba? Dinig pass lang yung bola nabalik,” he continued.
Eventually, the challenge was deemed unsuccessful. And because PLDT called the challenge in the middle of a play, Petro Gazz was awarded a point which tied the game at 24-all.
Vander Weide scored immediately after the long break but MJ Phillips’ quick sailed out which locked the scores anew. The latter atoned for her mistake and roofed Samoilenko before an attack error from the PLDT import sealed the win.
The Angels ran away with a 19-25, 25-21, 25-20, 27-25 victory but the High Speed Hitters put the game under protest.
“Unfortunately, hindi nila jump ball so inaward nila yung score sa kalaban at the same time sila ang nag-service. So, logically, medyo unfair doon sa side namin okay lang sana kung yun talaga yung video na pinakita nila, nag-successful, tanggap namin pero yung sasabihin mong unsuccessful pero yung video na dapat yun ang magjujudge hindi mo binigay sa amin. So bakit inaward na hindi naman yun,” the Adamson men’s volleyball head coach said.
“Yung decision nila doon sa endgame na pinalo ng kalaban, bakit hindi nila dinesisyunan na end set o tapos na. Bakit mas ininsist pa nila yung challenge ko? Samantalang nung humingi ako hindi nila binigay, nung nag-error na yung kalaban doon pa lang nila ginrant yung challenge. Unfortunately, yung video na china-challenge namin iba yung pinakita. Yun lang po ang aming sentimyento.”
