Monarchs shock Aguilas, rule Champs League
LIPA CITY — Team Dasmariñas bucked a slow start to carve a masterful 19-25, 26-24, 25-18, 25-17 win over Go for Gold-Air Force to rule the men’s division of the Champions League Saturday at the Aquamarine Recreational Center here.
Mark Calado led the assault, firing 18 kills for the Monarchs, who were impressive in the last three sets to complete the shocking upset of the Aguilas, who were made up of the core of the team that won the historic silver medal in the 30th Southeast Asian Games in 2019.
All in all, the Monarchs closed its campaign with a clean 5-0 mark, including a 3-0 sweep of Pool B in the preliminaries.
Meanwhile, John Benedict San Andres produced another solid performance as the VNS Manileño Spikers captured the bronze medal following a 25-21, 25-22, 25-20 sweep of Global Remit
The Manileño Spikers’ campaign had a couple of five-set heartbreaks — against finalists Go for Gold-Air Force and Team Dasmariñas — which could have turn things around.
But for San Andres, who came through with 15 points and nine digs, he simply moved on to help the Manileño Spikers reach the podium
“I think we were too eager (in our five-set losses) compared to today where we just enjoyed the game. It is a bonus for us to win. The most important thing is we produced what we trained and just enjoy inside the court,” San Andres said after the one-hour and 23-minute contest.
Manileño Spikers coach Ralph Ocampo said he told his players to just simply execute their system since most of them are not yet used to this level of competition.
“I told them we have nothing to lose since this is our first time some of my players joined in this competition. Like what I said in our last game, execute the system, attack their defense and hopefully we get the bronze,” Ocampo said.
“We never expected to go 3-0 on them since they have national team players and most of my played played for the first time in a major tournament.”
Jade Alex Disquitado registered 14 points for Global Remit, which struggled with 25 errors compared to the 19 of VNS Manileño Spikers.
Ocampo said they will go back to training to further improve in preparation for the Spikers’ Turf.
“We only need to improve our system since in the Spikers’ Turf, we might face harder competition,” Ocampo said.