Volleyball's Proliga set to enter final stages
Volleyball's Proliga set to enter final stages
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After having completed the regular matches played since February,
the 2003 volleyball league, locally known as Proliga, will enter
the semifinal and final stages this week.
The league features six men's and six women's teams. The
regular season involves 60 matches contested in rotation in four
cities: Bandung (West Java), Yogyakarta, Gresik (East Java) and
Jakarta.
The semifinal matches will be staged on Friday, pitting
Jakarta Phinisi against Yogya Gunadarma, and defending champion
Bandung Tectona against Surabaya Flame in the men's division.
The women's final four matches draw Bandung Art Deco against
defending champion Jakarta Monas and Jakarta Phinisi against
Gresik Phonska. The final will be on Sunday.
Jakarta Phinisi, which is spearheaded by national veteran
Loudry Maspaitella, looks to carry on what it did during the
regular matches that saw it win seven games and lose three games
to top the standings with 17 points.
Newcomer Yogya Gunadarma, which finished in fourth place, was
aware of its prospect but refused to be overawed by its
opponent's strength.
"I know the Phinisi players are quite experienced with their
national-level coach. But I have warned our players not to be
tricked by their fast-moving playing style," Putut Marhaento, the
head coach of Gunadarma, said during a media conference here on
Wednesday.
"I liken Phinisi to sprinters while we are long-distance
runners. They may be unstoppable at the start, but we'll try to
ambush them later when they run out of gas," Putut said.
The game between Tectona and Flame will be a repeat of the
2002 final, in which the former was 0-2 down before fighting back
to win the remaining sets.
The women's division has produced a surprise leader in the
shape of Bandung Art Deco. The West Javanese side lost only once
to dominate the standings with a formidable 19 points.
Despite the outstanding run, team captain Veronica tried to
play down the team's ambitions.
"Now that we are in the semifinals, we are looking to do our
best," she said.
She said her Chinese teammates Li Wen and He Shan should have
no fitness problems when marshaling attacks.
Nandi Nata, Monas manager, said that his side would strive to
defend the championship. "That is also a form of making amends
for our modest performance during the regular matches," Nandi
said.
Monas avoided being eliminated by finishing in fourth place
with 15 points, four behind Art Deco.
Women's Phinisi and Gresik Phonska have drawn each other after
both ended up in second and third places respectively with 16
points each. Phinisi outpointed its rival on set tie-breaks.
Phinisi is looking to improve on 2002, when it took third
position.
"We have been preparing hard since early this year, and our
teamwork seems to be improving from week to week. We are ready to
do better than we did last year," said defender Ana Yohana.