IT seems like Akari is yet to find its footing even after a breakthrough PVL finals appearance last August.
Toting a 4-4 record in the All-Filipino conference, it hasn’t been a fun stretch for the Chargers as they lost four of their last six before finally getting a crucial four-set win over Nxled on Wednesday.
READ: Akari overcomes slow start to hand Nxled its 14th straight loss
For head coach Taka Minowa, the missing link is the absence of a tireless spiker just like their American import Oly Okaro who ranked second in the league in scoring in the Reinforced Conference.
“I think everyone knows what we're missing, especially from last conference when we had Oly (Okaro) and she made 20 points or 30 points (per game),” Minowa said.
“We're still in the process [of making] the team better. We need to try to retrain. But also, we have to analyze. We already know what we're missing and [the things we need to do in this spot] to make an improvement. Everyone knows we're also not perfect.”
Eight games into All-Filipino play, it’s been Ivy Lacsina who’s led the Akari offense with 101 total points, 12.6 on average, on 35.69 percent spiking efficiency.
She ranks fifth in spiking and sixth in scoring.
While she has enough in her arsenal to be an effective scorer, se and the team still lack one vital winning component in their game: maturity.
“‘Yung maturity pagdating sa paglalaro, du’n po kami kinakapos dahil mga bata kami sa team,” Lacsina said.
Young as they may be, Lacsina hopes to mimic the composure of the PVL’s veteran stars and restore their erstwhile title-contending status.
“Halos lahat ng veteran teams, kaya nagiging buo sila nang sobra dahil may culture na sila. Kami po kasi, mahirap po at first na magbuo kami ng culture kasi may naa-add ta’s aalis so parang ‘di pa ganun nabubuo ‘yung team,” she said.
Lacsina added: “Hinahanap namin kung ano ‘yung mga similarities namin para du’n kami magsimula. Kapag nagkakasama kami, minsan ‘di kami nagkaka-eye contact kasi hindi namin alam ‘yung gusto ng bawat isa so du’n po kami mag-uumpisa.”
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