Bank Jatim scores win in Proliga

The Jakarta Post ,  Bandung, West Java   |  Mon, 04/28/2008 11:42 AM  |  Sports

Surabaya Bank Jatim underscored its domination of the women's division by chalking up a comeback 3-2 win over Jakarta Electric PLN in the Sampoerna Hijau Proliga Indoor Volleyball Tournament at C'tra Arena Sports Center in Bandung of West Java on Sunday.

Bank Jatim was 22-25, 21-25 down before taking the final three games 25-18, 25-15, 23-21, helped largely by Chinese player Wan Ting's outstanding performance with her powerful smashes.

It was a rehearsal for their final match to be held in Jakarta on May 4, where the two teams will meet again. They booked their places in the final as early as Saturday when each won in the fourth game of their matches. The other two teams were Jakarta BNI Taplus and Gresik Petrokimia.

Bank Jatim already had something to celebrate as their win earned it Rp 30 million in prize money for coming first in the round-robin.

"It was a tight match against Jakarta Electric PLN. They will be a tough rival again in the final," club chief Edi Rusianto told reporters after the match.

He said the prize should motivate his team to perform even better.

"I'm glad we have a good foreign player who can help us win the match," he said.

Jakarta Electric PLN acknowledged it made a mistake by replacing spiker Josephina Tahalele with Santi Sulasty.

"I see it was my mistake to have replaced Josephina in the third game, when in fact, she was playing in top form," said coach Viktor Laiyan.

Viktor looked forward to redeeming his team's pride in the final.

"We are ready for the final, even if we have to play it over five games. Hopefully, all players will perform well," he said.

In the men's division, Jakarta P2B Sananta beat Bantul Yuso Tomkins 3-2 (25-23, 25-17, 24-26, 15-25, 15-4) to book a place in the final against Surabaya Samator, which beat Jakarta BNI Taplus 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-21, 26-16). (nkn)

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