YOGYAKARTA - Surabaya Samator won the first match of the 2026 Proliga third-place battle. Playing at the Amongrogo GOR, Yogyakarta, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, Samator was able to overcome the resistance of Jakarta Garuda Jaya with a score of 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-20).
This victory is a crucial capital for Samator before playing the second leg, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. On the other hand, Garuda Jaya must work hard to be able to turn things around in the next meeting.
In that match, Surabaya Samator immediately performed optimally. Coach Rodolfo Sanchez immediately brought out the best squad such as Lyvan Taboada, Jordan Michael, Ageng Wardoyo, Tedy Oka, Hendrik, and Hadi Suharto. This makes Samator play very aggressively.
Jakarta Garuda Jaya actually tried to give a fierce resistance. This makes the point acquisition run tight at the beginning of the set. However, the mental maturity of Tedy Oka et al. is visible when entering the tens point. Samator dominated the attack and closed the first set with a score of 25-17.
Entering the second set, Garuda Jaya tried to rise. Coach Nur Widayanto instructed his students to increase the attack tension.
This tactic was successful so that there was a mutual pursuit of scores. However, Samator remained calm and was able to intercept the opponent's attack. They slowly moved away from the pursuit of Garuda Jaya and closed the set with a score of 25-20.
The tension of the match peaked in the third set. Both teams traded attacks until the score was tied at 13-13. However, Samator again showed consistency and managed to win 19-15 in the middle of the match. They also did not lose momentum so that they reached the match point 24-20 before finally ending the match with a final score of 25-20.
This defeat is a valuable lesson for Garuda Jaya which is dominated by potential young players. Garuda Jaya coach Nur Widayanto admitted that his team made many mistakes. They also failed to maintain consistency at critical points.
"Several serves failed to reach the opponent's reception," said Nur Widayanto. "In addition, there are some players who are still sick so they can't be at their best," he said again.
On the other hand, Surabaya Samator only needs a similar performance in the second leg to ensure themselves as the third champion of the 2026 Proliga. Lyvan Taboada's experience in managing the rhythm of the game is the key to Samator's success in dampening the aggressiveness of the Garuda Jaya young players.
"We hope the players don't get tired when they go through the second leg. At least they have to be able to maintain their performance and play like this," said manager Hadi Sampurno.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
