Foton tries to get out of a slump when it battles dangerous United VC in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix today at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
Action starts at 7 p.m. with the Tornadoes hunting for a crucial win that will revive their campaign in this prestigious women’s club league bankrolled by Asics, Mueller, Mikasa, Senoh, Team Rebel Sports, Bizooku, UCPB Gen, Cocolife, Hotel Sogo and Data Project.
Prior to that, Petron seeks its 12th consecutive win when it tangles with resurgent Generika-Ayala at 2 p.m. while Cignal and PLDT Home Fibr jockey for position in the 4:15 encounter of this battle that also has ESPN5 and 5Plus as broadcast partners.
Petron and F2 Logistics, two of the best clubs in the country today, already bagged the twice-to-beat edge in the quarterfinals, leaving the race for the last two incentives wide open for PLDT (7-5), Cignal (6-6) and United VC (5-5) to vie.
Two-time champion Foton, meanwhile, is struggling.
After winning its opening-day match over United VC, the Tornadoes suffered a string of misfortune, prompting them to replace Selime Ilyasoglu of Turkey with Milagros Collar of Spain while bringing back Dindin Manabat, who campaigned in the prestigious V.Premier League in Japan.
Still, it wasn’t effective as the Tornadoes’ slide had extended to nine games, sending them all the way to the bottom of the team standings with a 1-9 win-loss card.
“We hope to finally end our losing streak. Our lone win this conference is also against them (United VC) so we hope we can do it again on Tuesday,” said Foton coach Aaron Velez, who will bank on Collar, Courtney Felinski, Elaine Kasilag, Maika Ortiz, Shaya Adorador and Manabat for firepower.
“Coming off a nine-game losing streak is really tough. It’s difficult, but we are optimistic that we can still bounce back and redeem our morale.”
But United VC is also raring to bounce back after a tough loss to Generika-Ayala, 23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-27, 12-15, last Thursday.
United VC will again rely on prolific hitters Kalei Mau, Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani, who had 33 and 25 points, respectively, in their previous match.
“At this point, we need to have as many wins as possible,” said Ylaya. “We’re running after the twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals so we have to be at our best every game.”
