SINGAPORE SEA GAMES: The Pleasant Surprise That Is Bagwis Pilipinas!

Analysis: It seemed to be a typical Philippine Men's Volleyball Team match. Our players fought hard, had a couple of shining moments, some boneheaded ones but ultimately, could not get the job done against the Malaysians and, as John Vic de Guzman got blocked at the net, conceded the first set 20-25.

If the other 2 or three sets had the smae storyline, none of us would be surprised. In fact, maybe a lot of us expected it to be that way.

Except the team, known as Bagwis Pilipinas, had other plans.


Bagwis Pilipinas would go on to win the next three sets, shutting out Malaysia to the tune of 25-23, 25-18, 25-19.

Some key points:
1) John Vic de Guzman, Rex Intal and Marck Espejo were total monsters. When they managed to get their rhythm, they were virtually unstoppable. It didn't matter from where they were hitting, they were on target for most of the afternoon and they hit with power.
2) I may have missed the news but whatever happened to Alnakran Abdilla? I thought he was still eligible for these games and I remember being really impressed by him from the club championships a while back.
3) Our defense needs a lot of work. Our blocking schemes need to be better, our floor coverage also needs to improve but our reception is pretty damn good.
4) There is no quit in this team. They kept digging a hole and then kept coming back. More importantly, they came back and won, not content with just making a game out of it.
5) We got a damn good coach. After the first set, he made adjustments, never seemed to lose his cool despite being very vocal and emotional, and he got his players on the same page. Great work, Coach Oliver Almadro.

Congratulations Bagwis Pilipinas.

Video courtesy of Singapore Sports via Youtube.