Fresh off NCAA title win, Louie Ramirez leads Imus to victory in Spikers’ Turf

MANILA, Philippines – Fueled by success on the sand court in the NCAA, Louie Ramirez showed no signs of fatigue as he led Imus past the Sta. Sisi Rosa, 25-22, 28-26, 29-31, 25-16, in the 2023 Turf Spikers Open Conference, Sunday at Paco Arena.

Ramirez, fresh off an 11-game sweep to rule the Season 98 NCAA men’s beach volleyball tournament in Subic, made an impressive debut with his new club team on Saturday, posting 17 points made up of 15 attacks and two blocks. , coming off the bench.

“It was not easy to transition from the beach to indoors. My body felt heavy. But my determination to play indoors helped me,” said the Perpetual Help University star, who played for Cignal last year.

“When we lost the third set, my teammates said they wanted to finish the game in the fourth set. So we moved on from the loss and played better. I just made sure to follow in the footsteps of my teammates,” added Ramirez after he took control in a dominant performance in the fourth set to close out the game.

Besides Ramirez, Imus homegrown setter Ish Polvorosa provided good playmaking for the AJAA Spikers with 30 good sets while Kim Malabunga and Josh Villanueva drilled 14 and 11 points respectively.

However, Imus coach Sammy Acaylar is not confident in the debut of the Turf Spikers as Sta. Rosa exploited her limited preparation after shaky performances in the second and third sets.

“Honestly I am not satisfied with the performance of my team. Although we won the game, it is good that we won that game, but we are still struggling to get all the players and intact in training. Actually, we only have two days to prepare with eight players,” said Acaylar .

“This is the first time we are complete. They are all good, I respect their skills, but we have to work as one, overcome our shortcomings and stay committed in training for the next game,” he said.

Ramirez took charge at the end of the second set, making a crucial kill to give the Cavite team a two-set advantage.

But Sta Rosa refused to be swept away as the duo of Yoyong Mendoza and Kevin Montemayor lifted the team at set point, 24-22, only for Imus to force a deuce when Bonjomar Castel blocked Mendoza. The City Lions showed grace under pressure, maintaining a third set point advantage but could not close it as Montemayor made a crucial error, but he never wavered and nailed a spike to take the third set.

The AJAA Spikers bounced back strongly after failing to sweep the match as they dominated the fourth game with an 18-12 start and never looked back to send the Laguna-based squad to its first defeat.

Sta. Rosa, who is playing in her second Turf Spikers season with a revamped roster, surrendered 37 errors in the match with Montemayor leading the way with 16 points off 13 attacks, two aces, and a block.

Harvey Quezada and Gabriel Magsino each had 13 points, Mendoza had 12 points, and Sarijil Bakil added 10.

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