T

he first round matches of the 2015 Pertamina Proliga volleyball championship were rounded off on Sunday in Malang, East Java, with Jakarta PGN Popsivo topping the women'€™s division.

Popsivo looked to be suffering the effects of a tight five-set win over defending champion Jakarta Pertamina Energi the day before, but was still able to find a way to a 3-0 victory over Jakarta Bank DKI at the Ken Arok Hall on the last day.

The win earned the team a total of 16 points to wrap up the first round matches as winner while Bank DKI stayed in sixth among seven teams.

In other matches, Pertamina Energi bounced back from the previous loss to beat Gresik Petrokimia 3-0 while Jakarta Electric PLN won 3-2 over Manokwari Valeria.

It was not an easy game for Popsivo as it trailed 7-8 in the first set. However, after a time out was called, it put in a more aggressive display with effective attacks to finally take the set 25-22.

As Popsivo regained its form in the second set, Bank DKI played sloppier and made unforced errors that handed easy points to its opponent. Popsivo easily won the second and third sets 25-19 and 25-16, respectively.

Bank DKI coach Eko Waluyo admitted that his team had failed to find its best form during the first round of the competition, particularly in Sunday'€™s game.

'€œThey made a lot of mistakes when serving and receiving serve,'€ he told journalists.

'€œEven though Popsivo did not play really well today, my team failed to take advantage of this,'€ he said.

With the team struggling in sixth place, Eko expected a thorny road ahead in the hunt for a place in the final-four. '€œWe need to work hard to collect as many points as possible in the second round,'€ said Eko.

Proliga'€™s second round will commence with the first week of matches in Gresik, East Java, from March 6 to 8, followed by a second-week showing in Probolinggo (March 13-15) and a third week in Jakarta (March 20-22).

The final-four stage will be hosted in Bandung from April 10 to 12 with the top two teams heading to Yogyakarta for the final on April 19.

Popsivo coach Muhamad Ansori said Sunday'€™s win was crucial in their bid to advance to the final four.

'€œThe players still need to stay focused and maintain their condition,'€ he said, warning his players against complacency.

In the men'€™s competition, Jakarta Electric PLN, which led the five-team standings with nine points, was scheduled to face defending champion Surabaya Samator later on Sunday. Samator was on four points, equal to Jakarta BNI 46.

Jakarta Pertamina Energi team, which is in second place with seven points, completed its first round match on Friday with a 3-1 win over Palembang Bank SumselBabel.