VNL: Belgian star Britt Herbots enjoys Filipino crowd, gives advice to PH team
MANILA, Philippines—Belgium star Britt Herbots believes the Philippine women’s volleyball team needs to “work on its tactics and easy things like defense.”
Herbots also said she enjoyed the support of the Filipino fans in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) Week 2 at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
When asked what’s her advice for the Philippine national team, the current VNL leading scorer said the Filipino Spikers have the potential but they still need to find and work on their strong point.
“I don’t know them very well. I saw a few videos of the tournament with Thailand. They have good players. I would say that they can maybe work on a little bit more of the tactics and the easy things like if they work on defense. For sure, they can be a little bit better,” said Herbots, who scored a total of 194 points in her first eight VNL games.
“I think they are searching for the best way to play. Every team has its difficulties and its strong points.
For now, the Belgian spiker thinks the Philippines’ strongest point in volleyball is the fan support.
Belgium received a boost from the cheers of the Filipino fans to overcome a gritty Bulgaria side in a thrilling five-set duel, 25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 20-25, 17-15, and finish with a 3-5 record after Week 2.
“I love it. The fifth set was very important. I think they put a little bit of pressure on Bulgaria also because they started screaming like crazy. Everybody’s super nice here. always smiling, I love the people and I enjoyed every single second that I played here in this gym,” said Herbots after scoring 26 points to win their last two games in Quezon City.
After a memorable experience in the Philippines, Herbots said her team will take a short rest before shifting their focus on the final week in Calgary, Canada, where they will face defending champion United States, Germany, Netherlands, and Japan
“We play the last week in Canada with difficult teams. Every point that we win over there will be an extra point that we can take. We will fight. we’re fighters. we showed it here. I think the most important thing is resting because I’m dead and all the girls are tired, too,” she said.
Belgium is currently the 11th seed with a 3-5 record and needs to finish strong in Week 3 to qualify in the final round in Ankara, Turkey, where only the top seven teams and the host squad will enter.