2025 Proliga Champion, Jakarta Pertamina Enduro Reaps the Fruits of Mature Preparation

YOGYAKARTA, KOMPAS — In front of thousands of spectators who nearly filled the Amongrogo Sports Hall in Yogyakarta on Saturday night (10/5/2025), Jakarta Pertamina Enduro finally achieved its glory again in the Proliga. This team secured the Proliga 2025 championship title thanks to thorough preparations made before the competition began. The six-year-long grudge and longing for the title have been repaid.

After Jakarta Popsivo Polwan's outside hitter, Amalia Fajrina, sent the ball out of the field, the Jakarta Pertamina Enduro players immediately prostrated themselves in gratitude and hugged each other. The point from the out-of-bounds ball ensured Jakarta Pertamina Enduro won the final convincingly, 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-16).

"This journey feels worthwhile. From initially facing difficulties and experiencing ups and downs, but thank God we were able to overcome it all and ultimately become champions," said Pertamina Enduro captain, Tisya Amallya Putri.

As Tisya said, Pertamina Enduro's path to winning the title was not smooth. Despite being the first team to secure a ticket to the final, Pertamina Enduro had suffered three defeats in the final four. Two of them were from teams that were eliminated from the title hunt, Gresik Petrokimia Pupuk Indonesia and Jakarta Electric PLN.

We are used to evaluating for the next match, forgetting the bad results that have occurred, and focusing on the current situation.

In the regular round, their journey was more winding. Tisya and her friends did not appear convincing by suffering two consecutive defeats in the first week. However, they were able to step on the gas in the decisive week to the final four and finally finished in second place in the regular season standings.

Although it ended quickly, in 1 hour and 27 minutes, the final match against Popsivo was not easy for Pertamina Enduro. Especially in the first two sets, Popsivo also forced Pertamina Enduro to engage in rallies to compete for points. The back-and-forth of points was inevitable.

"However, we are better able to anticipate. We are accustomed to evaluating for the next match, forgetting the poor results that have occurred, and focusing on what is currently faced. This is the key for us to get through difficult moments," said Tisya, who ultimately achieved her first championship title in Proliga.

With the victory over Popsivo Polwan, Pertamina Enduro has regained its glory in the highest volleyball competition in Indonesia. Pertamina Enduro has been without a title since it last lifted the Proliga trophy in 2018.

In fact, the opportunity to win the Proliga came again a year later. In the 2019 Proliga, Pertamina Enduro, which was still using the name Jakarta Pertamina Energi, advanced to the final and faced Popsivo Polwan. However, Pertamina's hopes of retaining the title were dashed.

At that time, Pertamina lost 2-3 (25-15, 22-25, 25-21, 23-25, 12-15) to Popsivo. They then reached the finals again in 2023, but suffered another defeat.

This means that the victory over Popsivo Polwan in the 2025 Proliga avenges the "grudge" from six years ago while also quenching the longing for the championship title. Now, Pertamina Enduro has collected three championship titles starting from the 2014 Proliga.

Pertamina Enduro coach, Bulent Karslioglu, stated that the victory in the final match was indeed deserved by his team. Moreover, Bulent assessed that his players had the capability to defeat Popsivo.

Bulent provided an example of the meeting with Popsivo during the regular season, specifically in the seventh week. Pertamina Enduro became the only team capable of defeating Popsivo with a score of 3-1 (32-20, 16-25, 25-16, 25-18). As a result of the actions of the team with the abbreviated name JPE, Popsivo's winning streak came to an end.

JPE managed to pick up another win over Popsivo when the two teams faced each other in the final four. Tisya and her friends won in the second week with a score of 3-1 (25-17, 25-22, 19-15, 25-17).

If we look at the results from the previous meetings when JPE won, this is the first time they have achieved a decisive victory of 3-0. "Before the match, we from the coaching team wrote in the book about the score of 3-0 (that we hoped for). We believed it because we knew we had the strength for it," said Bulent.

In terms of attack, Popsivo was slightly ahead of JPE by gaining 41 points from hard hits. JPE, whose attack was driven by Junaida Santi, Jordan Thompson, and Yana Scherban, earned 40 points. Although the number of points was less, JPE was more effective because they achieved it with fewer attempts, namely 83 spikes. Meanwhile, Popsivo recorded 100 spikes.

In the defense aspect, JPE excelled with a score of 8 points from 23 blocking attempts. Four of these were made by Thompson, contributing 3 points. Meanwhile, Popsivo executed 20 blocking attempts and only produced 3 points.

According to Bulent, the outstanding result in the final match was not achieved overnight. It was the result of months of training, focusing on fundamental aspects of volleyball, and supported by a strong team cohesion.

"I have said since the first round that my target is to be in the final. Once we are in the final, the next target is to be the champion. For the past six months, we have been preparing ourselves for that target, to play in this final. Playing as a team, together, not as individual players," he stated again.

JPE's Chef de Mission, Werry Prayogi, said thorough preparation had been done before the competition started. They had decided to build a good squad from the start, including recruiting good local players.

It was only when approaching the final four that Pertamina Enduro began to strengthen the team by bringing in world star player, Jordan Thompson. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist with the United States women's team was deliberately recruited to be able to bring the team to meet the championship target.

"The team's aura has become positive with the presence of world-class players like Thompson. The pressure actually intensified after reaching the top four, but once Thompson joined, everyone became more confident," said Werry.

On the other hand, JPE's victory is a significant blow to Popsivo, the regular season champion. The sadness was evident on the faces of the players and coaches of the club owned by the National Police.

Popsivo coach, Gerardo Daglio, could only watch the medal presentation ceremony from the sidelines. Daglio leaned against a post while being comforted by members of his coaching staff.

"I am proud of everything we have done. However, in volleyball, it is not enough to play well. You must play better than others. If not, you will lose," said the coach from Argentina.

"We tried not to lose. But a final is a final. Anything can happen," he said again.

With that result, Popsivo must once again wait to taste the Proliga championship title. It has been six years since Popsivo won the Proliga championship in 2019.

In the following seasons, they could only reach the final four at most, but had difficulty reaching the final. When the opportunity to advance to the final came this season, the title was still not theirs.