Being unheralded can sometimes be an advantage because your opponents will never know what they are going up against.
And that’s exactly how the Philippine Navy Sailors surprised Sta. Elena (formerly Champion Infinity) on Saturday at the San Juan Arena, taking advantage of a lethargic performance from their foes to open their Spikers’ Turf Reinforced Conference campaign on a high note.
The Sailors went on an 18-11 start in the first set and took it in style as Chris Senisan led the offense for the Navy.
The Wrecking Balls were able to bounce back in the second frame, relying on the exploits of Alnasip Laja who led the team with 15 markers but the momentum they earned were doused with cold water as they had way too many errors in the next two sets.
Sta. Elena’s unimpressive floor defense did not help as Navy pounced on with spike after spike to seal the win.
Razzel Palisoc and Wilbert Sapida provided the damage for Navy with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Sta. Elena committed a whopping 39 errors compared to only 20 for Navy, quite literally throwing the match away.
Scores:
Navy (3) – Palisoc 15, Sapida 14, Senisan 11, Madsari 9, Rusit 5, Junio 2, Kasim 1.
Sta. Elena (1) – Laja 15, Honrade 13, Molate 10, Arbasto 7, Antonio 6, Mandani 3, Abdul Wahab 3, Espiritu 2, Gomez 1, Tan 1.
Set scores: 25-21, 21-25, 25-19, 25-18.
