PSL Grand Prix Day #8: PLDT, Petron close out women’s prelims with wins, Systema gains first men’s finals berth
Final Preliminary Round Team Standings (Women’s Division):
PLDT MyDSL 5-0 (bye)
TMS-Philippine Army 4-1 (bye)
Cagayan Valley 3-2
Cignal HD 2-3
Petron 1-4
RC Cola 0-5
GAMES ON WEDNESDAY (December 4th at Ynares Sports Complex, Pasig City)
2:00PM (W) Cagayan Valley (3) vs. RC Cola (6)
4:00PM (W) Cignal HD (4) vs. Petron (5)
6:00PM (M-Semifinals) PLDT MyDSL (1) vs. Maybank (4)
YNARES SPORTS COMPLEX, Pasig City—Systema came back from two sets down to defeat Giligan’s and advance to the finale in the men’s division while PLDT MyDSL remained spotless and Petron earned its first victory to close out the preliminary round of the distaff side in the ongoing Philippine Super Liga (PSL) Grand Prix here.
(W) PLDT MyDSL def. Cagayan Valley—25-16, 25-17, 22-25, 26-24
In the day’s first tiff, the Speed Boosters were looking to close out the prelims on a high note as they locked horns with the dangerous Rising Suns.
It looked to be an easy final outing of the round for the Roger Grayeb-coached PLDT women’s squad as they won the first two sets handily, behind the steady setting of Amercian playmaker Kaylee Manns and the bombardment of open-spikers Angela Benting and skipper Lou Ann Latigay. Cagayan Valley struggled for form they lapsed into a multitude of errors, most noticeably on the reception department where the usually consistent Jen Reyes had difficulties tracking down the Speed Boosters’ services.
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But in the third set, Reyes, aided by former Thai Youth Team standout Wanida Kotruang began controlling the floor defenses allowing veteran setter April Jose to connect with her targets. Former Thai national team captain Patcharee Saengmuang was the initial beneficiary of Jose’s stellar orchestrating as she almost singlehandedly kept PLDT MyDSL at bay with her timely hits and aggressive attacks. Jose even ended up “outsetting” Manns (the league’s top setter) in terms of excellent sets 52-49—a rarity in the tournament.
The Rising Suns outlasted the opposition in the third set and were in command of the fourth set when star center Pau Soriano twisted her ankle during a defensive sortie and had to be carried off the court by her teammates. Soriano, the reigning Best Scorer in the PSL after her sterling performance during the Invitationals, was diagnosed with a high ankle sprain and has been ruled out of the Rising Suns’ quarterfinal match-up against RC Cola this Wednesday (December 4th).
The Speed Boosters then proceeded to lean on the heroics of Manns, middle-hitter Savannah Noyes and utility-spiker Suzanne Roces to nip Cagayan Valley in the fourth set and officially sweep its prelims campaign. The win earned PLDT MyDSL a quarterfinal round bye and they await the winner of the Cignal-Petron clash on Wednesday. The loss for the Rising Suns dropped them to the third seed and they must win against a steadily improving RC Cola Raiders in their knockout encounter on Wednesday.
The loss of Soriano looms big for Cagayan Valley and Head Coach Nes Pamilar. Soriano and former FEU stalwart Wenneth Eulalio have been consuming the minutes at that the pivot and seldom-used former UE Lady Warrior Leuseht Dawis was thrust into the role when Soriano went down. The god news for the Rising Suns is that perhaps the most talented reserve center is in their roster as Sandra de los Santos will now be getting her first start of the tournament in the quarterfinals.
Should Cagayan Valley move on against the Raiders, they will have a full two days of rest before the semifinals—an anticipated match-up against the TMS-Philippine Army. But first, they need to hurdle RC Cola (which won a set against them during their prelims game) on Wednesday.
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Noyes tallied a game-high 23 markers in the Speed Boosters fifth straight triumph, backstopped by Roces’ fifteen and Benting’s nine while Saengmuang and Kotruang paced the Rising Suns with eighteen points apiece along with a fifteen point contribution from star utility-spiker Aiza Maizo-Pontillas.
(W) Petron def. RC Cola—20-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-12, 15-5
In the final match of the women’s preliminaries, the Petron Blaze Spikers (sans Head Coach Vilet Ponce de Leon) rose from the grave and stole victory against a fading RC Cola Raiders in a battle of erstwhile winless squads.
It was the first win for the Blaze Spikers in what aficionados billed as “the championship match of the day”, but early indications had the Raiders looking set to pick up their first win of the season.
Unlike its previous outings, RC Cola’s locals were major contributors in the first two sets they captured. Veteran volleybelle Ivy Remulla imposed her will at the net, making minced meat of the Petron defenses while former UP Lady Maroons ace Michiko Castañeda used her aggression to find holes in the Blaze Spikers’ backline coverage to score heavily. Raiders imports Zhang Minghua of China and Thailand’s Sontaya Keawbundit kept the pressure on as their high-powered offense—fuelled by 36 excellent sets (in total) from former St. Benilde setter Ren Agero enabled them to cruise in the first two sets.
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When the third set commenced, however, it was a different story as Petron began finding its groove behind the powerful jump serves of former Ateneo skipper Dzi Gervacio and the net prowess of “Defensive Demigod” Mic-Mic Laborte. The Blaze Spikers—mentored by assistant coach (and Giligan’s setter) Ian Fernandez as Coach Vilet atteneded to her collegiate duties with UST as the UAAP volleyball competitions opened on the same day—also began getting the much needed leadership from its Japanese reinforcements of setter Misao Tanyama and Shinako Tanaka as RC Cola started becoming outgunned by a suddenly more determined Petron squad.
The onslaught was so massive that the Blaze Spikers forced a multitude of errors against RC Cola and Raiders libero Jill Gustilo (who had her best performance of the season with 27 “excellents”) began requiring more help in averting the detonations from Petron.
That help was sparse at best.
It was evident that the Blaze Spikers had the match under control when it crushed RC Cola in the fourth set and only allowed five Raiders’ points in the decider.
The win propelled Petron to the fifth seed to take on the struggling Cignal HD Spikers in the quarterfinals while the Raiders must defeat a fired-up Cagayan valley squad for its semifinals hopes to come to fruition.
Gervacio and Tanaka paced Petron with fifteen points each while Laborte and former DLSU star Stephanie Mercado added fourteen points apiece, exemplifying the total team effort the Blaze Spikers displayed en route to capping off its roller-coaster prelims on a high-note. Zhang and Keawbundit scored eighteen points each for the Raiders, supported by Remulla’s season-high eleven in the loss.
(M-Semifinals) Systema def. Giligan’s—19-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-11
In a similar saga, the Systema Smashers also clawed back from two sets down to snare the first championship match berth against the powerhouse Giligan’s Sisig Kings in the nightcap—which happened to be the first battle in the men’s knockout semifinals.
Stacked with two former UAAP MVPs in UST’s JP Torres and FEU’s Edjet Mabbayad (now the Head Coach of the NU Lady Bulldogs in the UAAP), the Sisig Kings proceeded to score at will in the first two sets, helped by former Tamaraws Roland Tonquin and Jack Loquiao. It was the outstanding setting of 22-year-old FEU hotshot Pitrus de Ocampo that became a major catalyst in the early success by Giligan’s as well as a number of high-flying attacks from UST wunderkind John Depante.
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The third set was an all out war, though, as Depante and Torres exchanged bombs (and glares) with former DLSU ace Chris Macasaet and former San Beda King Lion Rocky Honrade, with the Smashers edging Giligan’s when the smoke cleared. The fourth set was even more intense as Honrade’s “psych-out” antics even drew the ire of the referees as he was “advised” to tone down his taunting.
It still couldn’t stop the Smashers from prevailing anew, this time led by former UAAP MVP AJ Pareja’s defensive heroics and quick hits.
The fifth set saw a virtual duel between Depante and a rejuvenated former St. Benilde Blazer Gelo Espiritu as the pair went toe to toe in trying to pound opposing defenses into submission. Honrade promptly stepped up for Systema with two end game blasts and led the Smashers to the first ever men’s championship slot where they await the victor of the PLDT-Maybank tiff on Wednesday. Their titular clash happens on Saturday, December 14th—a full two weeks to prepare.
Pareja was named Player of the Game for his sixteen points—which included a whopping six block points. Macasaet led the Smashers in scoring anew with eighteen markers, while Honrade added fifteen. Former Adamson star PJ Rojas (and his wicked jump serve) contributed fourteen points while Espiritu had twelve—five of which came in the fifth set.
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Depante attained a game-high 22 points in the loss, while Torres and Mabbayad added tweloev and eleven points, respectively. Giligan’s will take on the loser of the second semis match-up between the Speed Boosters and the Tigers in the Bronze Medal match next Wednesday (December 11th).
So we now enter the knockout stages in the women’s side beginning Wednesday and we will also know the identity of the Smasher’s championship opponent then. See you at Ynares Pasig for that.
BOXSCORES:
(W) PLDT MyDSL (5-0) def. Cagayan Valley (3-2)
PLDT—Noyes 23, Roces 15, Benting 9, Manns 8, Latigay 7, C. Soriano 2, Banaticla 1, Gata-Pantone (L) 0, Guliman 0.
CVRS—Kotruang 18, Saengmuang 18, Maizo-Pontillas 15, P. Soriano 6, Eulalio 3, Jose 2, Reyes (L) 0, Benito 0, Dawis 0.
(W) Petron (1-4) def. RC Cola (0-5)
Petron—Gervacio 15, Tanaka 15, Laborte 14, Mercado 14, Tanyama 7, Morada 2, Ho 1, Gohing (L) 0, Acevedo (L) 0, Bello 0.
RCC—Sontaya 18, Zhang 18, Remulla 11, Agero 7, Castañeda 7, Velez 5, Yumang 2, Gustilo (L) 0, Co 0, Ramos 0.
(M-Semifinals) Systema (2) def. Giligan’s (3)
SYS—Macasaet 18, Pareja 16, Honrade 15, Rojas 14, Espiritu 12, Zamora 5, Clamor 1, Bañaga (L) 0, Hu (L) 0, Conde 0.
GSK—Depante 22, Torres 12, Mabbayad 11, Tonquin 9, Locquiao 6, de Ocampo 2, Roque 1, Chua (L) 0, Fernandez 0, Pirante 0.
Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoelZarate) and email sportztackle@yahoo.com
