By Lance Agcaoili
PHILIPPINE Air Force spoiled undermanned Bali Pure’s Shakey’s V-League debut with a 25-23, 14-25, 25-19, 25-16 victory in the Season 13 Open Conference eliminations on Monday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
The Jet Spikers took advantage of the absence of the Purest Water Defenders star Alyssa Valdez and Gretchel Soltones, who are currently in Europe for a series of camps and exhibition games
“Malaking bagay na wala ‘yung dalawang star nila naging advantage talaga sa amin,” Air Force Coach Jasper Jimenez said. “More practice pa although organized na ng konti talagang nangyayari talaga ‘yan first time.”
Dell Palomata led Air Force’s charge with 16 points on 10 attacks and with five service aces and one block. Judy Caballejo delivered 13 points, while May Ann Pantino and Jocemer Tapic added 10 markers apiece. Skipper Wendy Semana had 43 excellent sets.
Amy Ahomiro stepped up for undermanned Bali Pure with 13 points on eight attacks, three blocks and two aces, while co-Ateneans Dzi Gervacio and Elle De Jesus chipped in 12 points apiece.
Cignal, meanwhile, leaned on the solid duo of Ysay Marasigan and Raymark Woo to beat Bounty, 25-18, 23-25, 21-25, 25-20, 15-10, also on Monday to join Instituto Estetico Manila in the early lead in the Spiker’s Turf Season 2 Open Conference.
Marasigan and Woo are former collegiate rivals for Ateneo and De La Salle, respectively, but they took turns in smashing their opponents’ defense and finished with 20 and 14 hits, respectively.
They combined for 28 points on kills to help propel the HD Spikers to the victory that set in motion their bid for a second straight title after the Reinforced Conference late last year.
Marasigan and Woo also anchored Cignal’s net defense as they combined for six of the team’s 12 blocks, four times more than their rivals.
“I’m happy they’ve played well together even though they were rivals in college,” said Cignal coach Michael Carino, who also drew 13 and 11 points from Herschel Ramos and Edmar Bonono, respectively.
Carino, however, stressed that his squad’s need to minimize their errors after they ended up with 41 to the Fresh Spikers’ 34.
“It almost cost us this game and we really need to do something about it,” Carino said.
Four players also churned in double-digit scores for Bounty Fresh with Jason Sarabia and Romnick Rico finishing with 15 hits apiece and Jeric Gacutan and Michael Bagalay contributing 13 and 10 points, respectively.