Elektrik to play against Monas in Proliga final
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.