Yogya Tomkins inflicted with 7th loss in Proliga
Yogya Tomkins inflicted with 7th loss in Proliga
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Yogya Tomkins was denied a place in the women's division semifinals of the 2005 Sampoerna Hijau Proliga volleyball tournament after taking its seventh loss in the fifth series here on Saturday.
Tomkins women's team lost 1-3 (22-25, 18-25, 25-23, 17-25) to Jakarta Electric PLN, a loss that condemned it to the bottom of the six-team standings.
Their male compatriots also suffered a 0-3 loss to Jakarta Monas Bank DKI on Friday evening.
It will not be a timely return by the team to its home base when the tournament will play its last qualifying round in Yogyakarta next week while it has no more chance of advancing to the next stage.
Led by Yokbet M. Kapasiang, Yogya Tomkins seemed unable to find the weapon to match Jakarta Electric PLN, which relied on Brazilian Aline Pereira of and Chinese Tien Mei in its onslaught.
The duo teamed up on the attack, hammering home a series of powerful spikes to give the team a 2-0 lead after two games.
But in the third game, they made too many errors when leading 16-14. They conceded the third game before regrouping to win the decisive game.
Jakarta Electric PLN head coach Victor Laiyan criticized the players for underestimating their opponents that resulted in them giving away the third game.
"They thought it would be easy for them to run over Yogya Tomkins, which has suffered the most defeats in the tournament," he said.
"But they forgot that Yogya Tomkins also play good volleyball. They proved it by stealing one game from us."
He said he had warned his players against any letup in the next matches.
"I told my team not to lose even a single game as it might endanger the team," he said.
Meanwhile, while acknowledging his disappointment at his team's performance during the season, Yogya Tomkins assistant coach Gunardi said that the team would look ahead at the remaining matches with nothing to lose.
"We will play our best and the players should not feel the pressure of losing," he said.
"We have no chance of advancing to the semifinal but we will try to win the remaining matches when we host the tournament."
In the men's division, Surabaya Samator defeated Jakarta P2B Sananta 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21).
As of Saturday Jakarta Monas Bank DKI, with seven wins without any losses, and Jakarta 46 BNI (6-1) took the top two places and should be poised to advance to the semifinals.
They are followed by Surabaya Samator (4-4), Jakarta Electric PLN (2-5), Yogya Tomkins (2-5) and Jakarta P2B Sananta (1-6).
While Yogya Tomkins failed to advance to the semifinals in the women's division, the other five teams have yet to be assured their semifinal places.
Bandung Art Deco Bank Jabar and Jakarta Electric lead with five wins and three losses, while Jakarta 46 BNI recorded five wins and two losses.
Jakarta Monas Bank DKI booked four wins and three losses, and Gresik Phonska Bank Jatim recorded three wins and five losses.