High Speed Hitters excited over Japanese encounter

PLDT is looking forward to its game against Japanese club Kurashiki Ablaze in the Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference semifinals without the burden of pressure on its shoulders.

With their finals hopes already out of their hands, the High Speed Hitters are taking their Thursday showdown as a huge opportunity to gain experience and exposure playing against a quality foreign guest team.

Head coach Rald Ricafort acknowledges that with a 2-2 carryover win-loss record, a victory over the Japanese Division III club won't guarantee a bus ride to the gold medal match on Sunday. PLDT would still have to wait for the final result of the semis and pray that luck would favor them in case of a tie at the top two spots.

But Ricafort doesn't want his wards to worry too much about the possible scenarios in their semis bid. For him, what is important is what PLDT would learn from playing against a well-disciplined rival in its final semis outing.

"It's more on the challenge of playing against a Japanese team. As you said, our fate is already out of our hands so why bother fretting about it," Ricafort said following the High Speed Hitters' dominating straight sets win over Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh Monday night.

"We'll just focus on playing against a team with that speed and caliber to learn from it and hopefully carry that experience in the battles ahead. Whatever the outcome will be, we are not worrying about it. We just want to play our best on Thursday."

PLDT is on a two-game roll beating F2 Logistics, 25-21, 25-19, 25-18, and Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh, 25-23, 25-14, 25-23, to even its record.

The High Speed Hitters have an outside chance of making a breakthrough finals appearance if they hurdle the Ablaze but would need to pray that other teams won't reach four wins for a possible tie at the top two.

But even in a scenario of a tie at 3-2 in the top two spots, PLDT would still have to pray it has earned superior numbers in case an FIVB tiebreak is needed.

Just like Ricafort, top libero Kath Arado is just excited to test her mettle against the Japanese club which has been impressive in its floor defense.

"I'm so excited because the last time I played against a Japanese team was I guess last year in an exhibition game with the national team," she said.

Arado is also looking forward to squaring off against Japanese counterpart Kaoru Takahashi, who has made a strong case for giving local liberos a run for their money for the Best Libero award.

"The Japanese are really known for their discipline and proper pacing inside the court. We'll be able to gauge from our match our level of play as an individual and as a team," Arado said.

"Of course, we're not thinking too much of the result, we'll just work for it. We'll start by reading how they play and move inside. We trust our coaches to guide us."

Kurashiki is playing F2 Logistics as of press time. A win by the unbeaten Ablaze will eliminate the Cargo Movers from finals contention.