The Galeries Tower Highrisers may have their backs against the wall, but that’s not dampening their resolve one bit.
The Akari Chargers may have inched closer to entering the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference semifinals, but it was hard not to overlook how the Galeries Tower Highrisers gave them all they could handle in Game 1 of their best-of-three quarterfinals bout.
Akari stood their ground in a thrilling 21-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-16, 15-11 victory against the Highrisers over the weekend at the Philsports Arena. Head coach Taka Minowa stressed his team’s need to stay on their toes heading into Game 2 this March 20.
“I think in our first match of this conference against Galeries…it’s been five months and I think as a team, they are really improving a lot, especially like in this conference, so we just need to maintain our conditioning,” Minowa said, recalling Akari’s 28-30, 25-15, 25-16, 23-25 win over Galeries Tower to open the six-month-long conference.
Rookie Jewel Encarnacion led the Highrisers’ stand with an impressive 18 points, 18 excellent receptions, and 10 excellent digs, while France Ronquillo (17 points), Ysa Jimenez (13 points), and Roselle Baliton (11 points) provided ample support in the thrilling five-setter.
“What we see in Galeries is that we’re also surprised with what they are doing, so it’s just that we need to continue adjusting so we can be the better team.”
Galeries Tower finished the preliminaries with a 1-10 record, good for 10th place entering the qualifying round against the Cignal HD Spikers. But despite coming in as heavy underdogs, a stellar two-way effort allowed them to stun the third-seeded HD Spikers, which booked their direct flight to the conference quarterfinals.
On Saturday, the Highrisers also came close to erasing a 5-9 deficit in Set 5 thanks to crucial points from Encarnacion and Ronquillo, before breaks of the game allowed Akari to draw first blood in the best-of-three series.
‘Malalim ‘yung pinaghuhugutan namin’
While a loss is a loss, Encarnacion knows that the Highrisers’ fight is far from over. After all, they entered the All-Filipino wars eager to prove themselves, having shown their potential throughout last season’s Reinforced Conference.
Galeries Tower forced several five-setters during the import-laden tourney, including their matches against the Oly Okaro-led Akari, and a Cignal HD Spikers team reinforced by Venezuelan hitter MJ Perez.
“So this conference, pumasok kami with the goal na aangat talaga ‘yung team…Pero syempre maraming ups and downs throughout the whole conference, nagdaan kami doon, and you may notice na maraming games na three sets lang. Hindi unlike nung Reinforced na laban na laban, so happy ako na nagawan namin ng solution and slowly umaangat lang kami,” Encarnacion said.
“And eto na nga, umabot kami sa quarterfinals and ibang klaseng labanan ‘to, kasi lahat parang binibigay talaga ng players — kami tsaka ‘yung kalaban — ’yung best namin para makaabot sa semifinals.”
The Highrisers’ veterans also made sure to highlight their valiant stand against the Chargers, which was crucial to keeping the team’s morale intact according to Encarnacion.
“Kita mo nga, umabot kami ng five sets and pinigilan lang nila kami agad na mag-succumb saming disappointment, mga negative emotions. So parang…bumawi tayo, focus tayo sa next game. Parang let’s just add more fuel to the fire, na wag mawalan ng morale,” the former UP skipper said.
With a four-day break ahead of them, Encarnacion and Galeries Tower now look to refine their in-game composure as they try to force a do-or-die Game 3 against the Chargers.
“So tuloy lang ang laban kasi first game pa lang naman, there’s another game and syempre ‘yung goal namin is makaabot pa sa isa pang game.” Encarnacion said. “Ibibgay lang namin ‘yung sarili namin this week na focused lang kami, and wala muna sigurong commitments outside of volleyball. ‘Yun lang, tutok lang kami hanggang sa susunod na game.”
Images courtesy of the Premier Volleyball League.