Jakarta 46 BNI's women undefeated

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta 46 BNI's women team swept aside defending champions Jakarta Electric PLN on Sunday for a superb 5-0 win-loss record in the Sampoerna Hijau Proliga Volleyball Championship 2005.

The team won 3-0 (25-19, 30-28, 25-15) and remained atop the league standings.

But its men's team could not emulate its feat in its match against Jakarta Monas Bank DKI. In a battle of the only two men's sides with perfect records in this year's championships, 46 BNI went down 29-31, 25-27, 14-25 at Bung Karno Basketball Stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

The women from 46 BNI seemed preoccupied at the outset, probably from the pressure of knowing that winning the match would secure them a semifinal berth.

After riding out some storms to take the first two games, however, they were little troubled in the third.

"Our players were really nervous at the beginning as we didn't play on Friday and Saturday," Jakarta 46 BNI head coach Sukirno said.

"Physically, we are stronger than Jakarta Electric PLN players who had played on Friday, but mentally we were burdened to win."

Jakarta Electric PLN head coach Victor L said that his players -- most of them new recruits -- performed better than on Friday even though they lost.

"But our foreign players, like Aline Pereira and Gisella Dela, did not play well today," he said.

Jakarta Electric now has a 2-3 win-loss record, the same as Bandung Artdeco Bank Jabar and Gresik Phonska Bank Jatim.

Jakarta Monas Bank DKI is in second place with a 3-2 tally after it thrashed Gresik Phonska Bank Jatim 3-0 ( 25-21, 25-18, 25-16) earlier on Sunday.

Yogya Tomkins (1-4) is bottom of the table.

All the teams will play five more matches, with the top four advancing to the semifinals.

In the men's division on Saturday evening, Jakarta 46 BNI defeated Yogya Tomkins 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 18-25, 26-24, 19-17).

Meanwhile, the league's organizing committee head, Hanny Surkatty, announced the 24 male and female player chosen to play in All Star matches in Semarang on March 26.

Among the men's players, who were chosen by spectators and journalists, are Kenton Lepp of Surabaya Samator, M. Zainuddin of Yogya Tomkins, Edu of Jakarta 46 BNI and Marcello Bareto of Jakarta Monas.

Ade Maya of Bandung Artdeco Bank Jabar, Electric's Pereira and Dwi Sari of Jakarta 46 BNI are among the chosen women.