2014 PSL Grand Prix men’s division elimination round review and playoff preview The playoffs cast in the men’s division of the 2014 Philippine SuperLiga Grand Prix presented by ASICS is now complete. Let us review how each team fared in the classification round and let us look ahead and predict how the next four playdates will pan out until we have a champion. PLDT Home Telpad-Philippine Air Force – The PLDT franchise, in all of its iterations, has not lost since last year’s PSL Grand Prix. So, it’s not a stretch to think that the Turbo Boosters will win against Maybank, which they defeated handily, and whichever team emerges in the Cignal vs Cavite Fourbees tossup. In the eliminations, the one against Cavite was interesting for one set before PLDT-PAF turned up the boosters and won by straight sets, while the one against the HD Spikers was billed as a finals preview, although PLDT-Air Force still came out on top. Nevertheless, that no-bearing match against Bench/Systema in the final elimination round playdate proved to be the most dramatic with the two middle set scores reaching over 25. Cignal – The HD Spikers’ only loss in this year’s PSL Grand Prix is against PLDT-Air Force, and the latter remains their bogeyman. Their semis tussle against Cavite Fourbees Total is still intriguing because the Patriots can pull off a surprise considering that Cignal’s win against them is the only one that reached four sets. Lorenzo Capate, Jr has been a revelation; he deserves a call up to the PLDT-Air… I mean national team training pool. Cavite Fourbees – The team with the million name combinations, the Patriots made heads turn with their spunk and hustle. Whoever thought guys north of 30 years old still has some fight in them? Then again, Richard Gomez is much older, but I digress. In the end, they defeated two more established squads while they put up a struggle against the two PSL All Filipino Conference finalists. Considering their shared roots, I’ll call it now – Adam Aidam is the lay man’s version of Alnakran Abdilla, a splendid alternate version of Abdilla. If the HD Spikers aren’t careful, they might see themselves watching instead of playing in the championship match. Maybank – That ‘battle for fourth’ between the Tigers and Bench/Systema turned out to be anticlimactic, but I understand the Active Smashers’ priorities. It’s not much of a reward when you’re going to face the three-time PSL men’s division champions in the semis. There wasn’t much to see in the three matches that Maybank played, so expect some token resistance when it takes on the Turbo Boosters. In an alternate universe where there’s a club volleyball league during the peak of their careers, this crew of former collegiate stars would be no doubt formidable. Bench/Systema – Last year’s PSL Grand Prix runnerup is now just an afterthought, who would’ve thought? The outcome against PLDT-Air Force might have been easy to call, but the Active Smashers made it an entertaining contest. Imagine how news stories would’ve been angled if Bench/Systema, with only ten men in uniform, completed its upset of the Turbo Boosters. The article will write itself. Now that the blueshirts hit rock bottom, there’s no way to go but up. Unless old teams like Giligan’s, Instituto Estetico Manila, and for the heck of it, Via Mare decide to return to the fold and throw a monkey wrench in the works and make things exponentially interesting in the men’s division. (JP Abcede)
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 04:01:01 +0000
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