THEY have yet to play the Ateneo Lady Eagles, but Est Cola coach Chamnan Dokmai declared La Salle the better team than its arch-rival after battling the Lady Spikers in a tuneup match.
Est Cola lost in five sets to La Salle and Dokmai was all praises for the Lady Spikers, raved about setter Kim Fajardo and was impressed with the deep La Salle lineup.
"The system is okay," said Dokmai, who coached the Thai national team in two editions of the Asean University Games with Bundit as his assistant.
"They have a good setter and libero also. The setter is very important. If your setter is good everything is easy."
Dokmai noted that while Bundit has a superstar in Alyssa Valdez, Ramil De Jesus has a better team because of the playing system.
"I know they are rivals with the university team we played. His team has Alyssa Valdez but I think this team we played is better (than Ateneo) because they have good team system," said Dokmai.
"They also have many players that can share from substitution. When someone cannot play, another one can play," he added.
"Their spikers are okay. Their outside spiker can jump high and their middle can spike (hit) quick but not hard. She can’t spike hard but can (hit) it very fast," he continued.
Like Bundit, Dokmai also likes teams to 'play happy.'
"And they have a very good team system. They tried to play happy in the game, that’s very important. If they want to play well they have to be happy. I think that team is very strong," he said.
"Sometimes they made mistakes but it’s not a problem because it can help them improve. But for me the first thing that is very important is to play happy and they are happy," he added.
Asked about de Jesus, Dokmai said, "He only watched the game and didn’t ask for a timeout. He only watched the game. He didn’t call any timeout even in the fifth set, he only teach during the game and gave a lecture after the game."
La Salle and Ateneo will square off on April 10 as the Lady Spikers try to repeat its first round straight-set win over the Lady Eagles.
Est Cola is playing in the final phase of the Philippine Super Liga Invitational Conference.
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