WHEN Kobe Shinwa head coach Kiyokazu Yamamoto once paid a visit to the Philippines a few years back, one local team stood out for him.
Seeing Creamline, the most successful team in Philippine volleyball, play at the highest level in the PVL fascinated Yamamoto.
In his first crack at the Cool Smashers as a coach, he delivered one of his biggest victories yet by taking down the 10-time PVL champions, 27-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21.
READ: Kobe Shinwa stuns Creamline, stays on track for PVL finals seat
How did Yamamoto and Kobe Shinwa do it?
From a strategic standpoint, the former Philippine Superliga champion coach made it a point to repulse Creamline’s signature combination plays.
The Cool Smashers still made a living out of combination sequences with the likes of Jema Galanza and Pangs Panaga firing 20 points each.
Only this time, their lethal plays didn’t translate to a win.
“I know that Creamline has a lot of good players. The last time I went here, I saw Creamline. I saw how they play very fast with a lot of combination plays,” Yamamoto said.
“The way the players adjusted to the combination plays, that was our focus today.”
For a team with an average age of 19 years old to deal the Philippines’ winningest club defeat is nothing short of a confidence-booster.
But even if a PVL Finals seat looms for Kobe Shinwa, Yamamoto doesn’t see his wards by any means as title favorites or promising contenders yet.
The way he sees it, they are still challengers.
“In our match against PLDT, all the sets were close but we lost. I told my players after the match that we are the challengers. That’s why my players played much better today,” Yamamoto said.
“All the sets were also close today but this time, we were able to get the win.
“It is good that we have this confidence now but we must not forget that we are still the challengers. We just have to play our game and move forward from there.”
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