With Lacsina and rising ace Soyud taking charge, Akari nails second win
There was a touch of disappointment for Taka Minowa after Akari clinched a second straight victory in the PVL All-Filipino Conference.
“We were doing good in the first set,” Minowa said after the Chargers’ 25-14, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23 victory against revamped ZUS Coffee on Thursday night at Filoil EcoOil Centre.
As the game progresses, Minowa said, “little by little we [began] showing quite a bad attitude; [the players] kinda relaxed already,” he added as Akari had to fend off a huge fight from ZUS, which looked like it could force the match into a deciding fifth set.
But the Chargers dug into the kind of veteran’s poise still missing from the young Thunderbelles to ice the victory.
Akari has changed its image from becoming a midtier team to a legitimate title contender following its most successful campaign in the Reinforced Conference, where it reached the Finals for the first time behind import Oly Okaro.
The Chargers stormed to the championship unscathed before falling to eventual and first-ever Grand Slam champion Creamline. And now Akari wants to prove it deserves being on a pedestal by mounting a follow-up performance in the All-Filipino sans the American opposite hitter.
“Since there is no longer an Oly, every local player in our team is eager to step up because we can’t rely on anyone else but each other,” Ivy Lacsina said in Filipino after leading the Chargers.
“The last conference was a good experience for us,” Lacsina said. “At the same time what we are working on is how to be better compared to the last conference so while the wins keep on coming, we continue to learn.”
After stints at F2 Logistics and Akari sister team Nxled, Lacsina has become one of the go-to scorers in her two conferences with the Chargers.
“I just always think about how I started and what I went through under coach Taka’s system and in the training,” the former National University stalwart said as she produced 24 points, 22 from attacks.
But the one who is rising to the occasion in the absence of scoring machine Okaro is Eli Soyud.
‘Taking advantage’
After understandably having limited minutes in the import-laced conference, Soyud powered Akari with 21 points in its win over the Galeries Tower Highrisers in their first game and against the Thunderbelles, she helped Lacsina with 15 points.
“I am taking advantage of the time that I am on the court and contributing what I can to the team to win,” Soyud said. “The challenge for us as opposite … is the need to fill the position [of Okaro].”
Grethcel Soltones added an overall performance of 10 points with 11 excellent digs and receptions to upend the debut of a handful of players for the Thunderbelles such as No. 1 rookie pick Thea Gagate, Kate Santiago and former Cignal cogs Jovs Gonzaga and Chai Troncoso.
Gagate still had a solid debut for the Thunderbelles, after finishing with 13 points. Mich Gamit and Santiago, a transferee from Farm Fresh, chipped in 12 points apiece.
Akari meets Creamline once again looking for some measure of payback against the powerhouse squad.
“We all know that Creamline is strong and that it is one of the top teams so we’ll go back to the drawing board and work again when we are in that moment,” Lacsina said. “We’ll just play and follow coach Taka’s system.”
