by rick olivares
Friday July 12, 2013
San Juan Arena
There’s a saying… it’s not how you start; it’s how you finish.
Philippine Super Liga clubs Petron and PLDT My-DSL will have to
disagree with that.
PLDT My-DSL faced undefeated Cagayan Valley in the opener of the
triple-header offering of Day Three of the Philippine Super Liga. The problem
is they came out lacking fire as Nes Pamilar’s girls made mincemeat out of the
opposition with simple execution and exquisite finishes.
CV had a triple threat in front with Sheila Pineda (playing her
best game of the season thus far), Sandra de los Santos and Joy Benito sending
PLDT’s frontline defense scrambling.
The first set was close at 4-5 for PLDT until De Los Santos took
front and center. A slam dunk on Pau Soriano knotted the score after which she
served superbly to give the momentum to Cagayan Valley.
On six consecutive possessions, De Los Santos served up three aces
while her teammates’ terrific floor defense allowed Pineda and Benito to score
a couple of points. By the time Charmaine Moralde ended the onslaught, the
score was 11-6, Cagayan Valley.
Lou Ann Latigay tried to rally her side after scoring three
consecutive points but Cagayan Valley took the first two sets with relative
ease 25-16 and 25-17.
PLDT finally awoke from their slumber in the third set behind the
Adamson duo of Pau Soriano and Angela Benting as they made a game of it.
Staring at match point for CV, 24-23, Joy Cases’ attack up the middle went wide
giving life to PLDT.
Soriano’s spike was called just in to give PLDT the third set,
29-27, and some hope of a comeback.
In the fourth set, both squads battled it out tooth and nail to set
up a furious finish. With CV leading 24-22, Moralde served and both team
battled in a long rally that saw the lead cut to one when Soriano blocked De
Los Santos.
Because of the long rally and thinking Cagayan Valley had just served,
Soriano served when it still should have been Moralde forcing officials to call
out the violation and awarding the match point to Pamilar’s team.
A stunned and ashen-faced PLDT team looked on as they fell to their
second loss after their opening day win over fancied Bingo Milyonaryo.
“If we had started well,” lamented PLDT head coach Francis Vicente.
“Parang diesel engine. Ang tagal bago uminit. Ganyan kami against Bingo
Milyonaryo at sa Petron. Hopefully, sa next game hindi na ganyan.”
In the second match of the day’s Super Liga offerings, a Petron
team, missing Maika Ortiz and Rhea Dimaculangan (who late as they came from
work), took on hitherto winless Army.
With libero Marie Del Rosario struggling with her floor defense and
not too many options up front, the smaller Petron team leaned heavily on Angeli
Tabaquero for points. But Army keyed their defense on the former UST standout
(Ortiz was also somewhat lost) and quickly took the first two sets.
Petron coach Vilet Ponce De Leon made a change in the third set
when she inserted Fille Cainglet. The former Ateneo captain’s defense and
digging sparked her side. When Ortiz and Dimaculangan checked into the late
part of the third set, Petron caught fire. But it was a little too late as Army
swept them 25-18, 25-15, and 25-19 for their first win in three outings. Petron
fell to 1-2.
“We took advantage right away kasi alam namin na kulang sila,” said
Army coach Rico De Guzman.
“If we had everyone at the start of the game then maybe it might
have ended differently,” rued Ponce De Leon.
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Best players of the day:
Cagayan Valley's
Sheila Pineda
Sandra De Los Santos
Army's
Tina Salak
Michelle Carolino
Best players of the day:
Cagayan Valley's
Sheila Pineda
Sandra De Los Santos
Army's
Tina Salak
Michelle Carolino
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