Thai stint toughens up Foton for AVC tilt

MANILA, Philippines - Foton Pilipinas hopes to measure up against an elite field vying in the AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship, which unfolds Saturday at the Alonte Sports Center in Biñan, Laguna.

The Tornadoes are coming off a sixth place finish in the tournament in the Select Tuna Thailand Volleyball League last week, hoping the experience will put them in good stead when they slug it out with the top Asia’s club teams.

Foton Pilipinas head coach Fabio Menta of Italy said that the outcome of their Thai stint hardly mattered as he sees a lot of positive in the young team reinforced by Americans Lindsay Stalzer and Ariel Usher with Jovelyn Gonzaga of RC Cola-Army, Aby Maraño of F2 Logistics and Jen Reyes of Petron serving as guest players.

“We’re quite positive,” said Menta. “We played against quicker, more experienced players and gave court time to our younger Filipino players.”

“This is what the club wanted to achieve and if you consider that we only worked together for two weeks and without two key players in Jaja (Santiago) and Jovelyn, coming back home with two victories is already a great result,” added Menta.

But the upcoming Asian club tourney is teeming with talent-laden teams.

Ba’yi Army Shenzheng of China will be parading Asian U23 MVP Liu Yanhan and Olympic star Yuan Xinyue while Bangkok Glass of Thailand will be bannered by Vietnamese middle blocker Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hoa and American wing spiker Ashley Frazier.

The NEC Red Rockets of Japan will also be tough as high-flying opener Sarina Koga will carry the cudgels together with Olympic star Haruyo Shimamura.

Menta is eyeing a semifinal stint for his wards.

“It’s not going to be easy considering that all the other teams have been working together for months and we have 60 percent of the team joining now with a new coach,” he said. “But we have the talent to achieve that goal and we are working hard for that.”

He also stressed the need for his wards to toughen up on defense upfront.

“We need more solid blocking position and more consistency in the quick plays,” he said. “When we are disciplined at the block, which we proved in three straight games, all correlations would work fine.”