Pocari Sweat takes home the rare golden double
True to their name and company spirit, the Pocari Sweat Lady Warriors had to sweat out a classic finish to an otherwise dominant season, after completing a sweep of the 2016 Shakey’s V-League Reinforced Conference Finals and quelling the Bureau of Customs Transformers in four sets 25-14, 25-10, 22-25, 25-23 at the PhilSports Arena.
After breezing through the first two sets, Pocari Sweat ran into a determined BOC in the third set. The deflated Transformers found their groove in the third set, refueling their lackadaisical floor defense and attack to shock the Lady Warriors. BOC import Som Kuthaisong powered in 12 points in the set alone to keep BOC alive for a fourth set.
The fourth set saw the Lady Warriors muster a classic effort to close out the series. With BOC erasing their 14-10 lead and matching them point for point, Pocari Sweat leaned on each other, braving the storm of boos from a hostile crowd. After Rosemarie Vargas surrendered a crucial attack error that put Pocari at set point, 24-23, unsung Lady Warrior Desiree Dadang served the biggest ace of her career to clinch the title.
“It feels great. This was the goal we set for ourselves to start the season. Talagang pinagtiyagaan namin lahat ng aches and bumps along the road kaya noong lumaban ‘yung BOC noong dulo, I knew my team had it in them to come back,” said Pocari head coach Rommel Abella
Four Lady Warriors tallied double-digits with the conference’s best import Bre Mackie putting up 23 points. Middle blocker Andrea Kacsits and skipper Michele Gumabao each contributed 14 markers.
After losing their first game of the season to an All-Filipino Air Force squad, the Lady Warriors settled down and reworked their approach to the season. They won all their remaining games.
“That was tough (first loss). But alam kong kaya ng team. After that we worked really hard kasi we knew that the team that loss was far from the team we could be. It took a lot of sacrifices but mas masaya talaga kapag ganitong pinaghirapan,” expressed Finals MVP Gumabao.
Kuthaisong finished with 32 points while conference MVP Alyssa Valdez added 10.
A newly formed team, the Transformers saw multiple adjustment period before peaking in their epic semifinals comeback against Bali Pure.
The Scores:
Pocari Sweat (3) – Mackie 23, Gumabao 14, Kacsits 14, Pablo 13, Dadang 7, Kasilag 2, Tolenada 1, Sy 0, Gohing (L)
Bureau of Customs (1) – Kuthaisong 32, Valdez 10, Vargas 7, Mabbayad 3, Jaisaen 2, Soriano 1, Mandapat 1, Emnas 0, Corpuz 0, Tubieta (L)
