ILOCOS NORTE – Perlas finally found a way to shine after two botched attempts, battling back from a set down and surviving Cignal HD in the next three to hack out a 20-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-21 victory in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference on Thursday at the PCV Socio-Civic Cultural Center in Bacarra here.
Veteran Sue Roces stepped up big in the second and third sets, firing away hits on the run that anchored Perlas’ breakaway finishes coming off a stumble in the opening frame then the Spikers sustained the charge in the fourth which they controlled on their way to the victory.
But while Perlas snapped its skid to revive its semis hopes with a 1-2 mark, Cignal HD’s downturn stretched to three straight for a 1-5 slate. The HD Spikers now need to sweep their last three games and hope only three teams would reach win No. 4 to force a playoff for the last semis seat.
The Spikers yielded six blocks, 3-9, but outhit their rivals, 56-42, with Nicole Tiamzon banging away 13 attacks, which Cherry Nunag and Heather Guino-o matched, while Roces backed them up with 11 hits and playmaker Angelica Cayuna produced nine points on top of her 24 excellent sets.
Janine Marciano put in a 12-hit game and Norielle Ipac and Rosalyn Doria scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, but the HD Spikers failed to sustain their fine start and never recovered from their endgame foldup in the second set.
Flashing vintage form, Roces broke the 19-all count in the second with back-to-back running attacks then closed it out with another pair of her signature play to highlight Perlas’ decisive 6-1 windup.
After Cayuna set up Villareal with a one-handed feed to shatter a 22-22 tally on the next frame, Roces again rose to the occasion, pumping in another pair of crosscourt hits on the run to give Perlas a 2-1 set lead.
The Spikers, who dropped back-to-back games to Choco Mucho and Chery Tiggo in a shaky start to their delayed campaign in the country’s first pro volley league, stayed in control in the fourth, taking the first technical timeout at 8-5 and holding sway at 16-12 and 23-19.
In the second game, Black Mamba Army, likewise, bounced back from a two-game slide and stayed in the hunt while ousting the PLDT Home Fibr side from the semis race as it scored a 20-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-20 victory.
Royse Tubino scored 24 hits for Black Mamba.
It was only the Lady Troopers’ second win in five games as they remained too far off the Top 4 at seventh but they could use the victory to fuel a stretch-run drive in an attempt to at least force a playoff for the last Final 4 seat.
The luckless Power Hitters took their sixth loss in a row.
Meanwhile, powerhouse Creamline tries to formalize its stint in the semifinal round as it shoots for its sixth straight victory against a slumping Chery Tiggo side even as Choco Mucho seeks to take a step closer to the next round against BaliPure at resumption of action on Friday.
The Cool Smashers and the Crossovers tangle in the 7 p.m. main game of a triple bill which also features the BaliPure-Choco Mucho faceoff at 1 p.m. and Perlas-Petro Gazz clash at 4 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.
Image courtesy of Jan Angelo Faustin Rosales