Past continues to haunt Choco Mucho
After an underwhelming PVL All-Filipino Conference semifinals campaign, it seems like Choco Mucho still cannot catch a break.
The string of bad luck weighed the Flying Titans down as Akari pulled the rug from under them in Game 1 of the battle for bronze, 24-26, 21-25, 25-15, 25-18, 15-11, on Tuesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
And coach Dante Alinsunurin knows exactly where to put the blame.
“Firstly, we are the ones responsible for why our opponents were able to catch up,” Alinsunurin told the Inquirer in Filipino after Choco Mucho suffered a fourth straight defeat here.
“I told my players the opponents were able to adjust to our skills. We weren’t able to adjust right back from the third to fifth set, and we really had a hard time figuring out what to do to stop Akari,” he added.
The Flying Titans, who dominated the latter part of the elimination round, finished without a win in three games of the stepladder semifinals, a result that relegated them to the battle for bronze opposite the third-seeded Chargers.
Bitter pill
The losses they absorbed in the semifinals seem to still be bothering Choco Mucho.
“I guess we still have problems from our losses [in the semifinals] where we had big chances [to win],” Alinsunurin said. “Maybe we are still burdened by the frustration from what happened against Petro Gazz and Akari when we knew we had a big chance.”
“Maybe it’s still weighing on the team … it’s still haunting us,” he added.
When the two clubs met in the semifinals, Choco Mucho opened strong before losing the next two frames. The Flying Titans did not go down without a fight and leveled the match to two sets apiece before the Chargers successfully escaped in the decider.
It was a different story this time, but it may be a much more bitter pill to swallow.
“Here we are again when we needed to finish the game, and like what happened in the semis … we weren’t able to do it because of the situation,” he said. “Maybe the game was really for Akari.”
The Chargers shocked Choco Mucho with its service game and its reception.
“[I]t seems like we doubted what we needed to do in the third set to finish the game,” Alinsunurin said.
