By Carmen Gogue
The Okkodo Bulldogs swept the ISA Boys Volleyball League season opener against the John F. Kennedy Islanders in straight sets 25-20, 25-14, 25-20 Wednesday evening at their home court.
Leading the Bulldogs on offense, was outside hitter Joel Silvestre recording a commendable 13 kills for the night.
Playing right side in the previous year, Silvestre reflects on his performance tonight, “This year is my first-time playing power [outside hitter], so I really pushed myself because I want to win for our seniors and the team”.
First game jitters seemed to rock the Bulldogs and Islanders in the first set as both teams had an array of hitting, service and a couple of net errors but it was the Bulldogs who were able to control their game better with only 11 errors compared to the Islanders 14 errors.
Although a majority of Okkodo’s points were from JFK’s errors, they proved better on attacks with nine kills, four of which were from Silvestre with three also coming from middle blocker Kurt De Mesa to take the first set 25-20.
In the second set JFK continued to suffer from errors which led to the Bulldogs having their best set of the night with aces coming from five different players to spark their rhythm.
Okkodo maintained spotless defense and with Silvestre on fire, he added five more kills to gain a wide lead easily winning the second set 25-14.
“Our chemistry was there, we huddled up and told each other everything we needed to do. Our coaches also guided us tonight and we listened.”
– Okkodo Power Hitter Joel Silvestre
The Islanders looked better in the third set shedding their errors and keeping pace with kills from Alesana Jorlang and Tyler Ando but it wasn’t enough to gain a lead against the steamrolling Bulldogs offense as the final set ended 25-20.
