With their semifinals clash with Air Force finally locked in, John Vic De Guzman and Mark Alfafara looks to exact revenge against the same team who denied them of the 2018 Spikers’ Turf Open Conference championship last December.
The last time that the Power Hitters extracted a win from the Jet Spikers was in the Game 3 of their semifinals match in the Open Conference last December 7.
Air Force – who won the playoff for the finals round against Cignal last year – swept PLDT for the title. Now, with the opportunity to strike back, De Guzman and Alfafara are willing to do everything it takes to claim vengeance on the Jet Spikers.
“Mas naeexcite kami kasi ayun nga, kagaya last conference tinalo nila kami so sana mabawian namin sila ngayong semifinals,” said De Guzman.
“Siguro ano, kumbaga nandoon pa din na parehas teams gusto manalo pero at the end of the day kasi, [kung] sino yung mas gustong manalo,” Alfafara claimed.
Air Force finished their elimination round campaign with a 10-1 record, forging a tie with Cignal. However, despite the tie, the Jet Spikers will have to settle for the number two slot as they only gathered a total of 26 points in the first round compared to Cignal’s 30.
Meanwhile, PLDT finished with a total of 25 points for the third seed with 25 points.
In their elimination round match-up, Air Force once again managed to eke out a five-set win over PLDT, 24-26, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 15-6.
Alfafara, despite not feeling that much pressure, is still wary of what Air Force is capable of especially on the big stage.
“Hindi naman sa ganun ka grabe yung pressure na pinapataw sa amin, pero still, hindi basta bastang team si Air Force, isa siy a sa mga high caliber teams na kailangan ready ka,” said Alfafara.
“Ineexpect namin na todohan talaga yung semis.”
De Guzman, on the other hand, is well aware Air Force’s new additions which bolstered their campaign this conference and welcomes the challenge of playing against them
After playing for Sta. Elena last year, UAAP champions Bryan Bagunas, Kim Malabunga, Francis Saura, and Madz Gampong are now playing for the Jet Spikers.
“Last conference kami din yung nagkatapat, maganda naman yung labanan kumbaga healthy competition talaga, yung tao tao, talagang sabayan,” said De Guzman.
“Then [ngayon] yung mga players naman kasi sa PLDT and sa Air Force most of [us] mga national [team] players so malaki expectation ng mga coaches.”
“So ayon, wala namang team dito or player na pagdating sa ganitong bakbakan eh chill lang, lahat talaga bigay todo diyan,” Alfafara echoed.
