ILOCOS NORTE – Choco Mucho pounced on Black Mamba Army’s miscues down the stretch in the last two sets to score a 25-19, 25-23, 25-19 victory for the first semifinal berth in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference on Monday here at the PCV Socio-Civic Cultural Center in Bacarra.
Kat Tolentino delivered 18 points, all on attacks, while Maddie Madayag and Ponggay Gaston backed her up with 11 and 10 hits, respectively, and Bea de Leon added eight markers for the Flying Titans, who held off the Lady Troopers to extend their win run to six and assure themselves of a spot in post-season play of the country’s first pro volley league organized by Sports Vision.
The league’s tallest team made up of a triple-tower combo in Tolentino, Madayag and de Leon came away with eight blocks, seven more than its rival, while producing 43 attack points against Army’s 32 to dominate their one-hour, 29-minute encounter.
The Troopers actually produced 76 excellent digs, 15 more than the Flying Titans but just couldn’t translate them into points in the face of the latter’s solid net defense.
The Lady Troopers, who drew 10 points apiece from MJ Balse-Pabayo and Royse Tubino, dropped to 2-4 in a costly setback that dimmed their semis chances.
Like in its four-set win over BaliPure last Friday, Choco Mucho struggled a bit while trying to finish off Army, which forced a 23-all count in the second but yielded the next point on a net violation and the Flying Titans took the next point and the set on a hit.
The league’s lone unbeaten team then raced to a 12-point bulge in the third but yielded the next eight points, sparking hopes for a big Army comeback, 19-23. But the Flying Titans clinched the set and the match as the Troopers rammed two spikes into the net that cut short their rally.
Meanwhile, Petro Gazz tries to regain its winning ways following a four-set defeat to a surging Chery Tiggo side last Sunday, facing a skidding BaliPure at 3 p.m. today (Tuesday) even as Sta. Lucia seeks to boost its semis bid against Perlas at 6 p.m.
Games are telecast live on One Sports (Free to Air), and One Sports+ (Pay TV) with both channels available for linear streaming on Cignal Play and on gigafest.smart with replays on www.pvl.ph.
Meanwhile, PLDT Home Fibr finally nailed the win that had eluded the Power Hitters in their first six matches, scoring a surprise straight-set 25-22, 25-20, 25-21 victory over a stunned Perlas side late Sunday.
The Spikers fell to 1-4 and in danger of missing the post-season play.