PLDT import Elena Savkina-Samoilenko introduced herself to Philippine volleyball in the grandest of ways, Saturday.
The 6-foot-4 Russian reinforcement dropped 35 points in her Premier Volleyball League debut, leading the High Speed Hitters to a five-set conquest of UAI-Army, 17-25, 25-20, 24-26, 25-11, 15-11, at the Sta. Rosa Sports Complex in Laguna.
“Pinaghandaan naman namin yan syempre hindi ganun kadali lalo na first game especially sa imports yung familiarization ng laban dito sa Pilipinas,” said PLDT head coach George Pascua when asked about his import’s performance.
“Sabi ko sa kanya just play your game at lagi niya hihingin yung bola expect lalo kapag crucial match. Instruction ko rin kay Rhea, sabi ko sa kanya kailangan ma-maximize namin siya,” he added.
Both Dimaculangan and Samoilenko heeded Pascua’s call as the former threw the ball at the latter every chance she got in the final set. In the end, Samoilenko scored eight points in total in the decider.
“As long as pumapatay siya ng bola yun ang instructions ko. Kaya [strategy] namin sa kanya wag siya mag-receive,” said Pascua, who is also the coach of the Adamson University men’s team.
Pascua said that he was very impressed with how Samoilenko’s first game in the Philippines went. And he hopes that the 27-year-old outside spiker can sustain this kind of performance when they take on back-to-back champion Creamline on Thursday at the PhilSports Arena.
“Syempre overwhelmed. Being import hindi ganun kadali pero na-achieve niya hopefully by next game namin ma-achieve pa rin niya yun,” said Pascua.
“We are excited na makalaban namin ang Creamline kasi defending champion sila. Sa amin opportunity 'yun para makalaban sila. Pero syempre ang goal pa rin namin one at a time lang para manalo.”
