Petron guns for QF twice-to-beat bonus
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2019 16:17:56 +0000
Reigning champion Petron will be shooting for the first twice-to-beat card in the quarterfinals when it battles red-hot PLDT Home Fibr in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix today at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
Game time is at 4:15 p.m. with the Power Hitters looking to crush another heavyweight to intensify their bid in this prestigious women’s club tourney that has Asics, Mueller, Mikasa, Senoh, Team Rebel Sports, Bizooku, UCPB Gen, Cocolife, Hotel Sogo and Data Project as technical sponsors.
Prior to that, United VC and Cignal collide in the first game at 2 p.m. while F2 Logistics tries to score a rebound when it battles Sta. Lucia in the 7 p.m. main encounter of this league that also has ESPN5 and 5Plus as technical sponsors.
But all eyes will be on PLDT.
After finishing the first round with a 3-4 win-loss card, the Power Hitters are on a roll as they clobbered Generika-Ayala in five sets followed by a four-set domination of Foton to climb into the third place of the team standings.
But their biggest victory came from the Cargo Movers.
With head coach Ramil de Jesus attending mentoring De La Salle University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, the Power Hitters delivered a masterclass as imports Kendra Dahlke and Grace Lazard starred on both ends en route to a 25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 25-18 victory.
“Our game plan worked, especially our combination attacks,” said setter Jasmine Nabor, who outshone Alex Cabanos with 25 excellent sets.
“I hope we could sustain the momentum. We have to work hard and prepare for our next game, which is against Petron. They are a tough team and we have to be at our best against them.”
True enough, Petron is no easy foe.
The Blaze Spikers are the hottest team in the league right now with nine straight wins, sparking talks that they are headed for a perfect season similar to what they achieved in the All-Filipino Conference in 2015 when Rachel Anne Daquis, Aby Marano and Dindin Manabat engineered a 13-0 sweep.
Head coach Shaq Delos Santos, however, wants to play it safe.
“We don’t want to be complacent,” said Delos Santos, who will bank on super imports Stephanie Niemer and Kath Bell as well as the local crew of Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, Mika Reyes, Frances Molina, Remy Palma and Rhea Dimaculangan.
“We haven’t proven anything yet so we have to take it one game at a time.”
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