THE Power Pinoys face a tall task of overcoming unbeaten Al-Rayan of Qatar on Monday as the Philippines eyes a place in the semifinals of the Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Philippines PLDT TVolution split its two group matches to squeak into the knockout stage against an Al-Rayan squad that went 3-0 in the preliminaries.
After the Power Pinoys went 1-1 in their first two outings, coach Francis Vicente declared that they would get through the three-team group stage and make the quarterfinals.
But it will be much different in the knockout quarterfinals, where the newly-formed Philippine squad battles the solid Al-Rayan side.
The match starts at 4 p.m.
Iraq’s coach Khalaf Abdul Sa Alaa had noted that the Power Pinoys lack height, and that “only one player is good.”
That should serve as a wake-up call for other players to step up and help 21-year old leading scorer Alnakran Abdilla and Australian reinforcements Cedric Legrand and William Lewis.
The Power Pinoys have an average height of 6 feet 1, while the Qatar squad has an average of 6’4”.
Abdilla came up with 12 points in the opening match against Mongolia and 11 against Iraq and focus will again be on the player from La Salle Dasmarinas.
Legrand and local players Jayson Ramos and Peter Torres also need to bounce back from their sub-par performances against Iraq. Legrand only registered seven points, while Ramos and Torres had four and nine, respectively.
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