THE overwhelming underdogs are under no illusion about the huge task against the top seeds, but the Philippine team vows it won’t simply roll over as they battle powerhouse China on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Asian Under-23 Women’s Volleyball Championship at the Philsports Arena.
The match is set at 4:15 p.m. and will be shown live on TV5 and Aksyon TV 41.
National head coach Roger Gorayeb doesn’t want to paint an impression that the Pinay spikers can beat the China team, led by Liu Yanhan, with a semifinal berth on the line.
“Always ready naman ’yung mga bata. Hindi sila aayaw. Kaya lang, China is very, very, very strong,” Gorayeb said.
“Hindi kami magkukunwari na kaya namin sila. Mahirap,” the multi-titled coach added.
Instead, Gorayeb hopes the Filipina spikers will learn a lot from the match.
“Sa amin, it’s a learning process for us. If we didn’t enter the second round, hindi namin ma-eexperience makalaban ang Japan, China, Chinese Taipei,” said Gorayeb.
The winner will face in the semifinals either Korea or Chinese Taipei, which clash at 2 p.m.
Japan takes on India at 12 p.m. while Thailand faces Iran at 7 p.m. The winners of those matches move to the semifinals.
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