Flying Titans sink Water Defenders in big PVL debut

CHOCO MUCHO crushed BaliPure with its power and chemistry rarely seen in a debuting squad as the Flying Titans fashioned out a 25-12, 25-18, 25-18 romp over the Water Defenders in the Premier Volleyball League Season 3 Open Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan on Wednesday.

Collegiate stars Kat Tolentino and Maddie Madayag combined with Bang Pineda and playmaker Grace Masangkay as the Flying Titans, one of the two new teams in the league, the other being the Chef’s Classic side, cruised in the opening frame, rallied from four down midway in the second then dominated the third with its bench to complete the lopsided triumph.

Coach Oliver Almadro, who handled Tolentino and Madayag for the reigning UAAP champ Ateneo, found no use to utilize the services of his other Lady Eagle ward and UAAP Finals MVP Bea de Leon as the rest did their best to blast their rivals, who actually lost for the 11th time following a winless campaign in the Reinforced Conference.

Former La Salle star Manilla SantosNg made her return to competitive

the Flying Titans pulled away at 15-8. She keyed another 6-0 run she capped with an ace to the delight of the crowd.

Santos-Ng last saw action for the Lady Spikers in 2009 where she captured her fourth title with the MVP trophy to booth.

Tolentino finished with 14 hits, including 10 attack points, while adding 10 digs while Madayag had 11 markers and Pineda chipped in eight points with four excellent receptions. Masangkay produced 18 excellent sets and took the game’s top honors.

“We’re happy to win our first game. I told them to play maturely

jitters,” said Almadro.

The Water Defenders pounced on the Flying Titans’ shaky start in the second and went up, 13-9. But the newcomers settled down in time and countered with four straight hits, including a Madayag kill block on Grazielle Bombita, to draw level before Pineda’s hit shoved Choco Mucho to the lead which the Flying Titans never relinquished.

Bombita and Menchie Tub i e r a wound up with nine points each for BaliPure.

The victory gave Choco Mucho an early share of the lead with sister team Creamline and BanKo- Perlas, which got past Air

Force and Reinforced champion PetroGazz, respectively, in last Sunday’s inaugurals of the tournament backed by Mikasa, Asics and KFC.

The Cool Smashers were shooting for the solo lead against the Motolite Power Builders at presstime with the Perlas Spikers likewise going for a second Choco Mucho’s Bang Pineda defies BaliPure’s Shirley Salamagos (11) and May Guillema during their PVL Open showdown. NY Yankees Tampa Bay Boston Toronto Baltimore Minnesota Cleveland Kansas City Detroit Houston Oakland Texas LA Angels Seattle NL East Atlanta NY Mets Miami Chi Cubs St. Louis Milwaukee Cincinnati Pittsburgh LA Dodgers Arizona San Diego Colorado Lady Troopers later in the night. AL Central Chi White Sox AL West Washington Philadelphia NL Central NL West San Francisco