BIÑAN CITY – Foton Pilipinas gained a neat lesson in international volleyball when it suffered a devastating 13-25, 7-25, 15-25 setback to NEC Red Rockets of Japan in the 2016 AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship Tuesday at the Alonte Sports Arena here.
The Japanese marched into war zone with blazing guns to crush the Tornadoes in just 66 minutes of action in this prestigious continental battle organized by the Philippine Superliga, Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. and the city government of Biñan through Congresswoman Len Alonte.
Ba’yi Shenzheng of China was also impressive as it dominated Sarmayeh Bank of Iran, 25-18, 25-19, 25-14, in the third game of this tourney which is being bankrolled by SMM Sport, Nike, Senoh, Asics, Mikasa, Foton, BMW, Rexona, PLDT and Price Waterhouse Cooper with Crimson Hotel as official residence and TV5 and SMMTV of Thailand as broadcast partners.
Skipper Akari Oumi spearheaded the assault, but it was a total team effort as the Japanese jumped the gun early to dictate the tempo and completely destroy the morale of the Tornadoes, who were missing the services of 2015 PSL Grand Prix Most Valuable Player Lindsay Stalzer.
Oumi delivered 11 kills, one block and one serve to finish with 13 points while Sarina Koga and Mizuki Yanagita chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively for Japan, which emerged with a bridesmaid finish when Hisamitsu Springs campaigned in the 2015 edition in Phu Ly, Vietnam.
Flaunting crisp offensive assaults, solid defense and all-around brilliance, the Japanese played like a well-oiled machine, especially in the second set where they raced to a 9-0 start and never looked back.
A service error by Koga finally put the Tornadoes in the scoring column, 1-9, and failed to score on an attack until EJ Laure connected a beautiful backrow spike for a 5-19 count.
The Japanese crushed the Filipinos in almost all skills departments, especially in attacks, 28-14, aces, 6-, and errors, 13-17. Foton Pilipinas, however, had more blocks, 6-4.