Despite suffering heartbreaking losses on both occasions, Savouge showed flashes of its potential as a title contender, pushing defending champion Cignal and league-leading Criss Cross to their limits in the 2025 Spikers’ Turf Open Conference elimination round.
The Spin Doctors opened up the week with a strong performance against the HD Spikers, grabbing a 2-1 set advantage over the three-peat-seeking squad. They eventually folded in the latter stages, suffering a 25-27, 25-20, 30-28, 22-25, 13-15 loss on Wednesday.
Fresh from a bounce-back win against Alpha Insurance on Friday, Savouge once again faced another powerhouse squad in the King Crunchers on Sunday, pushing the league leaders to the brink before ultimately falling short in a hard-fought five-set thriller, 25-20, 13-25, 26-24, 19-25, 11-15.
While some may see these losses as nothing more than setbacks on their record, Mark Calado — who has been a key figure for the Spin Doctors since joining this conference — sees them in a different light.
For Calado, these performances prove that the Spin Doctors have the potential to be legitimate title contenders and that the Spikers’ Turf is no longer just a two-way race between the favored Cignal and Criss Cross, as it had been in the past two conferences.
(C) Spikers Turf
“Para sa akin ah, kaya naman talaga. Lahat ng teams, kaya namin talunin,” said Calado, just moments after posting a conference-high 36 points in the loss to the King Crunchers.
“Siguro malaking boost sa team ‘to. Siyempre magbibigay confidence na alam na ng team na kayang talunin lahat ng teams.”
With the semifinals now on the horizon, the former Far Eastern University standout said that Savouge will be hard at work to turn these painful near-wins into meaningful victories when it matters most.
Calado said that the Spin Doctors’ main focus right now is learning to power through in the endgame and finishing strong. These close losses have served as a reminder that they have what it takes to compete with the league’s best — but need to sharpen their execution in crunch time to convert hard-fought battles into wins.
“Pero ‘yun nga, kailangan lang namin talaga kumapit sa dulo. Kailangan naming alagaan ‘yung bawat points kasi sa paparating na semis, hihirap talaga for sure,” said the former PNVF Champions League MVP.
“Sobrang kulang talaga. Kulang pa kami, lalo sa duluhan ng laban. Saka ‘yung kapit siguro kasi nahihirapan pa kami mag-adjust sa mga ganun. We will work on that sa darating na semifinals.”
