THE UNTOUCHABLES
With a first defeat staring ZUS Coffee dead in the eyes, the Thunderbelles on Tuesday night showed what stuff they are made of.
And the Thunderbelles, with a come-from-behind 23-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-12, 15-7 victory over Akari behind Anna DeBeer, just showed that they are for real as they completed a five-game sweep of Pool B play in the PVL Reinforced Conference at Mall of Asia Arena.
“We’re just adjusting to whatever the opponent gives us, and we’ll take what we can get,” said coach Jerry Yee in Filipino after the marathon win for a 5-0 card. “We were lucky in this game, because we managed to adjust and pull off the win.”
After what looked like deflating defeats in the first two sets, DeBeer didn’t stop from leading another thunderous offense for ZUS Coffee and went on to hammer 32 kills for 33 points.
The American import may be thriving in her first overseas stint as ZUS Coffee’s leader. But she was the first to point out that it was all about working together as one unit.
“It’s a total team effort,” said DeBeer. “We didn’t have a good start, but we turned it around for our first five-set win of the season. That’s pretty exciting.”
True enough, every local has been ready to contribute every game for the Thunderbelles, like Riza Nogales, who stepped up and spelled the difference coming off the bench with 11 points that included four blocks.
Nogales, who was selected by ZUS Coffee in the third round, believes it’s the trust of all the coaches and every teammate that made her perform that way and help the franchise to this moment—from being a cellar dweller to the lone unbeaten team here.
“The trust that the coaches and my senior teammates give me really means a lot, especially during times when I make mistakes,” Nogales said. “They lift me up on the court. That’s where I draw my strength to perform.”
Clo Mondoñedo paced the Thunderbelles with 27 excellent sets. Jovelyn Gonzaga had 11 points, 13 digs and 13 receptions, while Chinnie Arroyo added 10.
It was actually a repeat win for the Thunderbelles, who beat the Chargers, also in five sets, in the supposed opener on Oct.7, only for the match to be ordered replayed following the absence of imports due to International Transfer Certificate issues.
“Definitely, it was hard sitting out the first one,” said DeBeer. “So just being able to play and have such a cool environment here was really fun.”
ZUS Coffee leads its new group in the second round with the Pool A bottom placers, Nxled (0-5), Cignal (2-3) and the loser of the Choco Mucho-Capital1 game at press time. Akari and Creamline will also be in that group.
The next round opens on Thursday, with the top eight advancing to the knockout quarterfinals.
