KUALA LUMPUR – The lack of exposure showed when the men’s volleyball team lost to Vietnam in straight sets Monday in the 29th Southeast Asian Games.
“Kulang pa sa toughness and consistency,” said national coach Sifronio Acaylar who formed the team just six months ago.
Acaylar said he hopes that the national team would not be disbanded after the Games.
“We need to continue the program because I think we’re in the right track,” he said.
A former spiker himself, Acaylar underscored the importance of keeping the team if “we want to contend for the gold medal when we host the Games two years from now.”
He said that all the gains they achieved in such short a time would only go to waste if the players go separate ways back home.
The team took a rest day Tuesday before facing Indonesia on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the MiTEC Hall 11.
Meanwhile, the fancied women’s volleyball team got down to serious business after days of taking it easy in the Malaysian capital.
Zenaida Ybanez, the team’s assistant coach, started confiscating all their mobile phones two days ahead of their match against Malaysia on Thursday.
National coach Francis Vicente presided over the meeting in which he discussed strategies against the host country.
Ybanez said a scheduled weight training awaits the spikers after the meeting.
On Monday, the lady spikers complained that the bus that would take them back to the hotel arrived an hour late, causing them to miss lunch.