Elektrik to play against Monas in Proliga final

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta

Newcomer Jakarta Elektrik will challenge Jakarta Monas in the women's final of the Proliga 2004 volleyball championships after winning their semifinal matches here on Friday.

Jakarta Elektrik denied Bandung Art Deco, last year's champion, a place in the final, cruising to a 3-1 victory in Friday's matches at the basketball hall at Bung Karno Sports Complex.

Elektrik, which lost only once during the group stage at the hands of Jakarta Phinisi, came back from a set down to win 23-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-17.

Art Deco's head coach Syamsul Jais praised the Elektrik players' comeback performance, saying that he had applied a correct strategy, but his players failed to hang on against the better opponents in the remaining games.

"Initially, we were relieved that Elektrik played the formation we had expected them to play and we had a perfect strategy for that. It worked well as we won the first game but Elektrik players raised their performance in the rest of the games," he said.

He said his blocking line worked generally well but poor defending appeared to cost them the match.

Meanwhile, Elektrik's head coach Victor Laiyan bemoaned his team's successful run in winning the final ticket, a success he attributed to the players' toughness in shrugging off early jitters.

The 2002 champion Jakarta Monas and Jakarta Phinisi, both equal in strength, were involved in a tough match in the other semifinal before the former champion scraped to a 3-2 win.

Monas won 18-25, 28-16, 23-25, 25-19, 15-10 in a match that its head coach Yoppie Hehanusa enthusiastically claimed as the real final.

"Psychological shape decisively counted in the game as we both had equal strength. Our players were feeling stressed out there during the first three games but we managed to get over the pressure soon," Yoppie said.

In the men's competition, Surabaya Flame advanced to the final after beating Jogja Gunadarma 25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 25-21. The other final slot was still being fought out between Bandung Telkomsel and Jakarta Monas.