MGC New Life Christian Academy’s 19U 14-player line-up faltered in their neck-and-neck match against Go For Good in the Smart Spike Volleyball Tournament last Saturday, September 11 held in the Tivoli Royal Country Club.
The New Life Lady Hitters, led by Coach Thelma Rojas and High School Team Captain Jamina See, opened the Smart Tournament with a win against the Marikina Titans on September 3. However, they lost against Go For Good in a 5-set game ending with the scores, 19-25, 25-19, 25-23, 13-25, 16-14.
With the tournament just beginning, the team is hopeful of redeeming themselves in the games to come.
“Don’t focus on the loss for now. Focus on how the loss makes you feel and what you’re going to do about it,” said Coach Thelma to the players.
The game began with a promising first set as the team earned a lead early on, ending with a score of 19-25 in favor of New Life, however, the following sets weren’t reassuring.
Go for Good started the second set with more energy and enthusiasm as they looked to redeem themselves from the failed, previous set. They earned a constant lead of six points until the set ended with the score 25-19 to Go For Good.
The morale of the New Life Lady Hitters was evidently lower coming into the third set as an easy victory didn’t seem so assured any longer.
The third set was hopeful until Go For Good caught up to 24-23 and eventually won after a failed service coming from New Life.
Since the fourth set was do-or-die for New Life, the players were notably more motivated and played the best they had so far in this match, finishing the set, 13-25 to New Life.
Both teams, on edge, proceeded to the fifth and final determining set.
New Life played an extremely close game, but Go For Good prevailed, finishing the match at 16-14.
“Hindi lumabas ang laro natin today,” explained Coach Thelma, expressing the players’ need for confidence within the court.
After the near victory, the team stays positive and looks to compensate for the loss in forthcoming games.
Comments