Tough was the 2023 Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference round-robin semifinals for F2 Logistics.
Coming in at 1-0 thanks to their win over Cignal in the pool play, the Cargo Movers spiraled downward, falling to Creamline, PLDT, and Kurashiki to bow out of gold medal match contention.
However, in their very last match of the semis on Friday, F2 Logistics managed to beat Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh of Vietnam, qualifying for the battle for bronze with a score of 23-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-20.
On Sunday, the Cargo Movers will face Cignal for a chance to secure a place on the podium.
Head coach Regine Diego admitted that the three-game skid was hard for the team, especially with their losses to the High Speed Hitters and the Ablaze, both coming in straight sets.
Furthermore, the Cargo Movers played their last three games without star opposite spiker Kianna Dy due to a knee injury.
“It’s been very hard for the team. We’ve been to losses after losses it was very hard since also Kianna has been injured,” said Diego after the match.
“Lahat na lang ng pwede mong gawin para ilabas nila yung laro nila you do that. There’s a lot of preparation we did sometimes kulang sa preparation and yung morale kasi medyo mahirap talaga iangat,” she added.
“The skills, the teamwork it’s there ang problema kasi minsan yung morale ang hirap ipush up. It goes for all teams naman and it was really hard for this team nung time na yun but I guess it’s just a process. Ito yung magpapatibay sa amin in the future.”
Despite falling short of the championship once again, Diego remains optimistic, believing that these hardships will toughen up the team for the next conferences, hopefully resulting in a crown.
In the last All-Filipino Conference, the Cargo Movers also settled for bronze, defeating PLDT in two matches.
“Whatever happens, we win or we learn. That’s very important for this team kasi siguro bago pa kami sa podium and this is part of what makes a champion,” said Diego.
“Kung hindi mo ito mafeel, siguro kulang ka pa. I’m happy that we’re here kasi these struggles are going to make us stronger, it will mold into becoming better than what we were before.”
