DEFENSIVE WALL. Sta Lucia star Mika Reyes tries to pierce through the tight defense of Marinera's Hana Cutura, Coleen Bravo, and Ivy Remulla. Photo release
The reigning queens banked on import Katherine Bell, who unloaded 19 out of her 20 points from attacks while Ces Molina scored 15 points and had 5 of her squad’s 7 aces.Coming from a strong performance in the opening set, the Blaze Spikers ended up knotted with Chery Tiggo at 18 in the 2nd frame before they unloaded 5 straight unanswered points, capped off by back-to-back kills from Molina.
Import Lindsay Stalzer led the scoring for the Cargo Movers with 26 points while Fil-Hawaiian spiker Kalei Mau added 19 markers to topple Cignal, which fielded veteran skipper Jovelyn Gonzaga as starting libero. The HD Spikers gave the Cargo Movers another scare in the 2nd set, where they evened the score at 23. But a costly service error from May Luna cut off Cignal’s momentum as Baron sent back Liannes Castaneda Simon’s attack to avert a total collapse.
The Cargo Movers quickly shrugged off their 3rd set mishaps and pulled away in the 4th as Alex Cabanos extended their lead to double-digits, 21-11, after back-to-backSimon fired 26 markers while Ceballos added 10 points for Cignal, which missed the service of starting libero Jheck Dionela.Sta Lucia leaned on Royse Tubino’s scoring barrage to spoil Hana Cutura and the Marinerang Filipina in 4 sets, 25-19, 21-25, 30-28, 25-20.
Sta Lucia found itself clinging on a slim 21-19 lead in the 2nd frame after MJ Phillips hammered down a kill.