Catching up with PSL | Bandera

Catching up with PSL

Lito Cinco |April 05,2019
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Catching up with PSL

Lito Cinco - April 05, 2019 - 05:33 PM


IT has been a long time since I have watched a live game in the Philippine Superliga (PSL).

Two years ago, I even went all the way to Bulacan just to watch a PSL game.

So last Thursday, I reserved the afternoon to finally see a game at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan and I had a double purpose too.

I was going to interview the sisters Jaja Santiago and Dindin Santiago Manabat, teammates at Foton and just recently returned from Japan where they played as imports.

It was the last day of the classification phase for the PSL Grand Prix where teams are reinforced by two imports and after the day’s action, the matchups for the quarterfinal round were finalized.

I was able to catch up with the second game and saw how second ranked F2 Logistics swept Cignal in three sets though the latter maintained its fourth place standing.

I will not be surprised at all actually to see a rematch between F2 Logistics and conference leader Petron in the finals.

The last game was between Foton and Generika though whatever the result was, Foton would be in seventh place while Generika will be in sixth place. But for a proud team like Foton, they had to rediscover their winning ways and savor anew the taste of winning games, something they seemed to have lost with a 1-10 record going into their last three games.

They lost to F2 Logistics even with the return of Jaja but Dindin remained on the bench, nursing an injury suffered in Korea prior to her Japan stint.

Jaja played for another team in Tokyo.

Foton had to win against Sta. Lucia to avoid a last place finish and avoid too a quarterfinals matchup against powerhouse Petron.

And Foton did exactly that, winning in four sets and followed it up with a 3-1 victory over Generika last Thursday night.

Foton will play F2 Logistics in the quarterfinals with the task of beating the team they have not beaten this conference twice to advance to the semifinal phase.

The other quarterfinals matchups will see third ranked PLDT going up against Generika while Cignal will have its hands full against United VC.

I promised Foton team owner Ada that I will watch also that game. The good thing is Foton will be buoyed by their back-to-back victories but beating F2 Logistics twice remains an uphill battle.

In the past, I was able to do a few team building sessions with Foton and who knows, I might end up doing one again either for this conference or for the next one. But my request to Ada, the team building session should be an overnight one and the venue is Mt. Banahaw where in the past I have brought the women’s teams of Lyceum, University of the East and Centro Escolar University.

Now that would be fun seeing the likes of Jaja and her teammates going through the caves in Sta. Lucia and Kinabuhayan or seeing them atop a jeepney on the way to Kinabuhayan for the waterfalls team challenge.

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And I bet a lot of you out there would like to join me for this if ever it happens. But I will tell the story afterwards and I hope it does happen.

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