Petron head coach Shaq Delos Santos admitted that an emotional open forum, after absorbing a sorry loss to F2 Logistics in Game 1 of their best-of-three finals showdown, gave the players a chance to reflect and re-establish their priorities.
American imports Stephanie Niemer and Katherine Bell vowed to deliver to lead the Blaze Spikers to back-to-back titles as they clinched the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix title before a massive crowd late Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
Niemer and Bell fulfilled their promise as they powered the Blaze Spikers to an impressive 26-24, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19 victory in Game 3 to formally clinch their sixth title in this tourney that also has ESPN5 and 5Plus as broadcast partners.
Niemer lit up the scoreboard with 31 points while Bell chipped in 16 markers for the Blaze Spikers who bounced back from a third-set meltdown.
Niemer, the hard-serving Kentucky native who was considered to be part of the United States national women’s team last year, also emerged as Best Scorer and Most Valuable Player. The victory vindicated her from a massive disaster three years ago when she and the Blaze Spikers surrendered to Lindsay Stalzer, Ariel Usher and the Foton Tornadoes in a thrilling finals series.
Bell also took the Best Opposite Spiker diadem while Rhea Dimaculangan was named as Best Setter following the title series that featured two of the best teams in Philippine volleyball.
Still, Delos Santos believes that their loss in Game 1 fired them up, prompting them to brush off the confidence and complacency brought by their 17-game winning streak.
“Our loss in Game 1 served as the turning point,” said Delos Santos, who was an assistant coach when Petron registered a 13-0 sweep of the All-Filipino Conference in 2015.
“After we lost in Game 1, we had an open forum where we allowed everybody to speak up and release everything in their hearts. It was a success. We renewed our commitment to winning and played Games 2 and 3 with hunger and intensity.”
