PETRON flashed the form that champions are made of to come out smoking after a four-set thriller, 25-13, 25-21, 23-25, 26-24, over Foton in Game Two on Monday to force a winner-take-all showdown for the 2015 Philippine Superliga (PSL) Grand Prix women’s volleyball crown at the Cuneta Astrodome.
The Blaze Spikers, winners of the Grand Prix and All-Filipino Conference, jumped the gun on the Tornadoes and although they cooled down in the third set, they had more than enough revolutions to take the fourth set and the match that tied the race-to-two series.
Game Three of the championship series of the interclub tourney presented by Asics and backed by Milo is on Saturday, also at the Pasay City venue.
“It was such a great game, a game that tested our mental toughness,” said Petron Coach George Pascua of the hard-earned victory witnessed by more than 8,000 fans.
Rupia Inck played heavy volleyball at the start, but revved up when it was extremely necessary.
Middle hitters Aby Marano and Dindin Manabat also stepped up and dominated Foton’s fearsome twosome of Jaja Santiago and Katie Messing.
Inck had 24 kills, including four booming smashes in the fourth set, to finish with a game-high 25 points, while Marano and Manabat chipped in 16 points apiece for the Blaze Spikers, who are looking to complete a rare grand slam in the league that also has Mikasa, Senoh and Mueller as technical partners and TV5 as official broadcaster.
“We banked on our championship experience. The tightness of the match also helped my girls a lot as they let their experience do the talking, especially the veterans,” Pascua said.
Petron looked prime for a straight-set conquest but were halted in the third set when American Lindsay Stalzer blasted away at the Blaze Spikers’ defense and Santiago and Messing built a fortress at the net.
Tied at 22, Erica Adachi committed a service error and Marano’s attack went long, giving Stalzer a chance to seal set point for Foton with a booming smash from the right wing.
“The third was a problem set for us,” Pascua said. “We committed three consecutive errors. Good thing the girls got their bearing back in the fourth.”
Foton looked to sending the match to a fifth set by sitting on the driver’s seat, 22-19, in the fourth frame. Messing scored on a quick attack for a 24-23 Tornadoes, but Inck and Manabat regained their rhythm to seal the victory.
“We will start again,” Foton Coach Villet Ponce-de Leon said. “We will go back to the drawing board and figure out what went wrong. We will start fresh in Game Three and work doubly hard to win the crown.”
Stalzer registered 19 kills and two aces for 23 points while Messing and Santiago contributed, 11 points apiece for Foton, which entered the finals as a fourth seed in the semifinals.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza