The SWU-Phinma boys volleyball team and the team’s coaches say a prayer after practice.
/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Cesafi juniors volleyball
Fairy tales like these don’t happen often, if at all. When a group of determined athletes are able to work as a cohesive unit and hurdle impossible odds, their achievements will forever be etched in sports lore.
And that’s what the Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma is hoping to accomplish as it aims to complete its storybook run with a feather in its cap when it goes up against the University of San Carlos (USC) in the best-of-three finals of the F2 Logistics Cesafi boys volleyball tournament this Saturday at USC Main gym.
The Baby Cobras, who only won once in five matches last year, have suddenly become the hottest toast in the league as they have yet to lose a game this season. They have won all their six assignments so far – thanks largely to the team’s continuous drive to get better this season.
“We really want to be better than last year. I always motivate them because sometimes they relax when their opponents are not aggressive. We have to be aggressive all the time against USC because they are a tough team to beat,” said SWU mentor Dave Arreza.
Manning the SWU boys volleyball squad are Rancel Varga, Zegfred Petalcorin, Joshua Cedro, Christian Rom, Jepherson Pocong, Marc Dave Villaflor, Jerden Ubas, Ben Bagajo, Rafol Sico, Lyme Padillo, Cleif Calinawan and Niño Pacinio.
Although SWU has had USC’s number this season, beating the Baby Warriors in all their two previous meetings, Arreza believes that the team still needs to improve their overall defense to have a better chance of winning the crown.
“We have to prepare our blocking, then we will also improve our service and our focus in the game. We will study the weaknesses of their wing players and we also need to improve our floor defense,” Arreza added.
To the untrained eye, the Baby Cobras may already look like a complete war machine. So it’s quite a surprise that Arreza believes a lot still needs to be done with their defense. Because as the old adage goes, defense wins championships.