JAKARTA - Shaq Delos Santos, lead tactician of the women's volleyball team competing in the Asian Games, received a lot of criticism when he decided to give his bench players a lot of time on the floor during their game against Thailand.
This was especially the case in the third set against Thailand in their opening game. Many thought that the Filipino spikers stood a chance against the Southeast Asian favorites and that going with the starters could have given the team an opportunity to win a set.
However, with the outstanding numbers of the bench against Hong Kong especially Mylene Paat and Dindin Manabat, who scored five points apiece, and Jia Morado who did a great job with a total of 24 sets, Delos Santos' strategy came out looking like a stroke of genius.
"I'm so proud of these two," said skipper Aby Maraño, pointing to setter Jia Morado and Mylene Paat during the post-game interview after beating Hong Kong. "They stepped up every time they stepped onto the floor."
Morado, who came in for Kim Fajardo, said that their trust in their coach's system paid off with the victory.
"Coach Shaq was after each and every player gaining experience here in the Asian Games because that's also what we want to do. We want to learn and we want to be stronger after this competition and the best way to do that is by letting us play against really good teams."
"I'm thankful for the opportunity," Paat agreed. "We all get to learn and we all gain confidence."
Now they will get the opportunity to climb even higher in Pool A as they take on Indonesia for a more favorable matchup in the crossover quarterfinals.
"Every win helps in boosting the confidence of the team," said Maraño. "We'll carry this confidence against Indonesia. The last time we went up against them was back in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games. We don't know how their program and system progressed since then but we know we're working hard in developing volleyball in the Philippines so we'll prepare hard before we face them on the 25th."
Alyssa Valdez, who led the team in scoring with 14 points against Hong Kong added that the match is also important material heading into next' year's Southeast Asian Games.
"We'll also meet them in the SEA Games. We have to know our focus, know what our goal is as a team. We need to play inspired and motivated," Valdez said. "We've gone up against them for a long time. I think it's time for us to get one against them."