MANILA, Philippines – It’s going to be a dogfight as both Foton and Cocolife declared an all-out war when they clash for the bronze medal of the Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga Grand Prix on Tuesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Foton team manager Diane Santiago said they are eyeing no less than a payback following a sorry 19-25, 18-25, 21-25 setback to F2 Logistics in Game Two of their best-of-three semifinal series late Thursday.
The sister of Foton stars Jaja Santiago and Dindin Manabat said they would go all out in the do-or-die consolation match, which will serve as appetizer of Game One of the best-of-three finals showdown between F2 Logistics and Petron.
“We want to finish the conference on a winning note,” said Santiago, admitting that their lack of reception and better passing in the semifinals completely doomed their chances to notch their third Grand Prix title.
“It is what it is. We lost to a better team. We’re all disappointed. But we still have another game — the bronze-medal match — on Tuesday. We will do everything to win and emerge at the medal podium.”
But winning the bronze wouldn’t be easy.
Cocolife team official Joshua Ylaya admitted that they are nursing broken hearts and the only way to fix it is by coming up with an impressive conference-ending victory.
The Asset Managers’ journey to the title ended in a controversial fashion.
In fact, they were on the verge of stretching Game One to fourth set, but game officials failed to call a rotation error on the Blaze Spikers.
In Game Two, the Asset Managers were simply drained physically and emotionally, prompting the Blaze Spikers to run away with a 25-15, 25-15, 25-16 victory.
“I really don’t know what happened. We were not in our rhythm in Game 2 and our morale was low,” said Ylaya, admitting that they played flat in the most crucial match of the conference.
“But the conference is not yet over. We still have to take care of the consolation match and prove that we also deserve to be at the medal podium.”
In their first and only meeting this conference, the Asset Managers crushed the Tornadoes, 25-19, 25-22, 25-18, with Serbian Sara Klisura torching her former team from the attack zone.
But a lot of things happened since then with Cocolife import Taylor Milton being replaced by Marta Drpa while Foton waged a massive overhaul with the recruitment of Tots Carlos, Isa Molde and Channon Thompson as well as the return of Jaja Santiago.
Ylaya said a bronze medal would put them within their target.
“When we joined last year, we ended up fifth in the Invitationals and fifth in the All-Filipino. Then, we barged into the semifinals in the Grand Prix with Taylor and Tai (Manu-Olevao) as imports,” he said.
“Now, we have a chance to improve our ranking and win the bronze medal. We will do everything to grab it to extend our improvement.”
Ylaya added that Drpa — a veteran of the FIVB World Grand Prix — had a piece of advice to her teammates as they march into the consolation match.
“She said it’s better to win the bronze than settle for silver,” he said. “And that would be our motivation moving forward.”
It may be bronze, but it would surely glitter like gold.