Petrogazz fought back from the brink with a spirited charge in the middle sets then banked on its superb blocking in the decider to frustrate BanKo-Perlas, 15-25, 18-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-9, and snap a three-game slide in the Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Reinforced Conference before a big weekend crowd at the Batangas City Sports Coliseum.
Probing Thai Jutarat Montripila’s game all throughout, Anastasia Trach finally got the better of the power-hitting BanKo reinforcement in the fifth, coming through with back-to-back kill blocks that set the tone for the Angels’ strong start, 4-0, on their way to their very first victory after yielding to the Creamline, Tacloban and BaliPure sides.
A fourth defeat actually loomed for PetroGazz as it dropped the first two sets in lopsided fashions. But the Angels regrouped and unleashed strong finishing kicks in the next two frames to force the decider where Trach simply got untracked.
A kill and two blocks by the Ukrainian hitter and a BanKo set miscue gave PetroGazz a 4-0 cushion and the Angels, who bucked the absence of injured top local scorer Rachel Austero, defended every Perlas Spikers’ charge with Trach coming through with another gem of a block that made it 7-4.
Mary Ann Mendrez also stepped up and fired three straight hits, including two aces, after the Perlas Spikers threatened last at 6-8 and Trach fittingly capped the Angels’ stirring come-from-behind victory by delivering the last two points, including a power hit into an unguarded spot in the middle.
Trach, who finished with 23 hits and four blocks, also drew solid support from the rest, including Stephanie Mercado and Cherry Nunag while Wensh Tiu, who sustained a right foot injury late in the fourth, delivered quality minutes for the Angels.
Though the win only tied PetroGazz with its victim at seventh in the eight-team field, it revived the Angels’ bid in the season-opening conference of the league organized by Sports Vision and backed by Asics and Mikasa. The Angels take on the Iriga-Navy Oragons on Saturday.
The top two teams after the single round elims gain outright semis berth with the rest clashing in another single round quarters for the two other spots in the Final Four.
In men’s division, PLDT out-steadied Cignal in the fourth set and pounded out a 25-20, 26-24, 26-28, 25-23 decision to snap a two-game skid for a 1-2 card. Cignal dropped to 1-1 in a tie with Vice Co. and Air Force, behind Instituto Estectico Manila’s 2-0 slate.
Creamline clipped defending champion Pocari-Air Force in a duel of fancied teams, fashioning out a 25-15, 27-25, 17-25, 25-19 victory to regain a share of the lead with idle PayMaya at 3-1 later in the day.
The Cool Smashers shook off a third set defeat and a slow start in the fourth with a strong windup with Risa Sato and Alyssa Valdez combining for all but one of the team’s last five points to the delight of the wildly cheering fans.
Sato scored on a quick attack and a kill block off Pocari import Arielle Love while Valdez, playing before her province mates, fired a couple of aces as Creamline broke away from a tight 19-18 game to clinch the victory.
Import Nikolina Asceric topscored for Creamline with 13 hits, including 10 attack points, two blocks and an ace, helping send the Lady Warriors reeling to their second loss against a win.
