MOLINA NG BLAZE, NILUSAW SINA DAQUIS AT PAAT NG HD

NAHARAP muna sa pahirapang bakbakan ang reigning champion Petron bago nalampasan ang hamon ng Cignal, 25-20, 18-25, 25-16, 16-25, 16-14, sa Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference kahapon sa Muntinlupa Sports Center.

Umayon ang ganda ng laro kay Frances Molina para akbayan ang Blaze Spikers sa makapigil-hiningang panalo sa prestihi­yosong women’s club tourney.

Nakagawa si Molina ng 21 kills at tumapos ng 25 points para sa Blaze Spikers, upang mapa­higpit pa ang kapit sa ikalawang spot na may 3-1 win-loss mark. May pina­kawalang all-around game si Aiza Maizo-Pontillas sa bisa ng 11 markers, 24 digs at 11 excellent receptions pa­ra sa Blaze Spi­kers, habang si Toni Rose Ba­sas ay may 10.

Pinuri ni Pet­ron coach Shaq Delos Santos ang composure ng kan­yang bataan at aniya, gigil sila sa panalo dahil sa nangyaring 4-set loss sa unbea­ten lea­der F2 Logistics no­ong Hu­webes.

“Coming off a loss is just as hard and we can’t afford to lose back-to-back games if we want to build momentum early on the conference,” ani Delos Santos, na mentor din ng national team na sasabak sa 30th Southeast Asian Games. “It’s a good wake up call for us, see what we need to work on, try to adjust to situations thrown at us and to remind ourselves that a three-peat won’t be given to us on a silver platter.”

Dahil patas ng 11 sa fifth set, tila ididispatsa ng Cignal ang Petron dahil sa kala­ma­ngan na 2 pun­tos, 13-11 bago na­ka­abot sa match point, 14-12. “It was a hard-earned win for us today, Cignal pushed us to the limit,” ayon kay Delos Santos. “But I’m hap­py that my team held on tight and didn’t crum­ble.” Tu­ma­pos naman si HD Spikers Team captain Rachel Anne Da­quis ng 17 points ha­bang si My­lene Paat ay may 11, na dumanas ng u­nang pag­katalo sa tat­long laro. (MC)