Michelle Cobb offered no excuses after Akari suffered a stunning five-set defeat at the hands of collegiate squad Adamson University in the final of the Akari Cup last Wednesday.
The PVL squad started the winner-take-all finale on the wrong foot, losing the first two sets before eventually taking the next two to send the game to a decider.
Unfortunately, Akari fell prey at the hands of the gutsy Lady Falcons, 25-19, 29-27, 21-25, 23-25, at the Adamson Gym.
“No excuses at the end of the day. Kahit na sabihin mong may certain lapses, may certain na iniinda mga ganun, syempre no excuses yun. I think we should all give it to Adamson,” Cobb said.
“As a collegiate team syempre araw-araw sila magkasama. ‘Di ko rin naman tini-take away siguro na mas marami silang time together, maraming factors. Pero at the end of the day syempre a game is a game, result is a result,” she added.
The Chargers side is still undergoing some adjustments with the arrivals of Grethcel Soltones, Ced Domingo, and Max Juangco, and the absence of Justine Jazareno.
So Cobb said that the team learned a lot from the Akari Cup, especially from their grueling title encounter against Adamson.
The former La Salle setter said that what matters from now on is how the team will use the experience they gained during the off-season tournament come the upcoming opening of the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference.
“Marami kaming natutunan sa game na ito kasi first of all down kami ng two sets. Doon namin talaga makikita kung ano yung mga real-life situations na kung paano namin i-overcome yun,” said Cobb.
“I would say, start ko na rito sa Akari Cup. Kasi first time naming mag-Akari Cup. Importante ito para sa preparation namin kasi ang hirap ngayon makakuha ng tune-up games. Ito yung beauty ng may tune-up, di lang siya tune-up, actually. Games na may mga referees and all, ito talaga yung for me makaka-boost sa amin going into the PVL,” she continued.
“So importante sa amin yung experience na ‘yun, na-experience namin yun dito. I guess leverage din na gamitin namin ito if ever na mangyari sa amin ulit ito sa PVL we would be more aware. We would know how to go about things as such.”
