BALIPURE Water Defenders exacted revenge from erstwhile tormentors Pocari Sweat with a decisive sweep of their best-of-three championship series to win the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference crown.
Two months after getting foiled at the first crack at a PVL title, BaliPure came back better, stronger and hungrier.
BaliPure beat Pocari Sweat in Game 2 – 25-20, 19-25, 25-23, 26-24 – to sweep their best-of-three series and capture the championship diadem at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.
The Water Defenders squandered a huge lead midway in the fourth but fought back from one down late in the frame behind superb blocking then leaned on setter Jasmine Nabor’s smarts to finally foil the Lady Warriors in a wild ending to a thrilling finale.
BaliPure, which took Game One via sweep, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22, thus avenged its finals setback to Pocari Sweat in sudden death in the Open Conference, which stretched the Lady Warriors’ run of championships to three in as many tries.
Nabor, coming in late for Angelica Cayuna, opted not to set up their hitters and instead came through with a dump, catching the Lady Warriors’ defense off-guard for the championship point.
Grethcel Soltones shoved the Water Defenders to 25-24 lead on a power crosscourt hit in the earlier BaliPure offense.
Up 2-1 in sets and ahead at 18-13 in the fourth, the Water Defenders lost their poise in the face of the big Pocari rally with the Lady Warriors racking up six of the next seven points to force a 19-all count then Myla Pablo soared for a kill to lift Pocari to a 22-21 lead.
But after an Aiko Urdas push that forced another tie, the Water Defenders came through with back-to-back kills blocks, only to yield the next two points, the last a block off Soltones before Soltones, who later copped the Finals MVP honors, and Nabor delivered the winning points for the Water Defenders.
There will not be a repeat of their previous failure. BaliPure won the first set of their sudden death for the Reinforced Conference crown last June but wavered in the next three. This allowed Pocari Sweat to nail the victory and seal a third straight championship in the country’s premier women’s volleyball league.
A more mature, disciplined Water Defenders came back strong to beat Pocari. BaliPure now had the tools and experience. They used that and won to savor the sweet taste of a championship victory.
“It’s a different kind of feeling winning a championship. I just relied on my players’ aggressiveness,” said BaliPure coach Roger Gorayeb, whose team had to get past an Alyssa Valdez-less Creamline in sudden death as well.
Pocari Sweat advanced to the championship first with a playoff victory over Hairy Fairy Air Force.
BaliPure matched Pocari Sweat’s victory by repeating over Creamline, 25-22, 27-25, 25-23, in their side of the sudden death to seal a title clash with the Lady Warriors for the second consecutive conference.
After a two of five-setters in the semifinals, the Water Defenders won the game that mattered most. The Water Defenders jumped on Julia Morado’s service error and then banked on Risa Sato’s quick attack to beat the Cool Smashers.
BaliPure lost the Reinforced Conference crown to Pocari Sweat last June. They wanted another chance and got it. The Water Defenders dropped the semis opener, 19-25, 25-13, 26-28, 25-15, 7-15, but won the second 25-19, 19-25, 25-16, 18-25, 15-13 to force a deciding Game 3.
This championship didn’t come easy. The Water Defenders first had to overcome the disappointment of missing a championship last conference when they bowed to Pocari Sweat. BaliPure then had to survive the spirited challenge of Creamline before gaining a second chance at redemption.
They made sure this time around to win their first PVL crown.