Bolts trip Fuel Masters, end skid
Lady Spikers defuse Tams big comeback
Defending champion La Salle squandered a two-set head-start and a match-point advantage in the third but regained its bearing in the decider to post a 25-22, 25-19, 24-26, 23-25, 15-7 decision over Far Eastern U and grab a share of the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball lead at Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan last night.
Locked in a 5-5 standoff in the fifth, the Lady Spikers reasserted themselves and held the Lady Tams to only two points towards the finish to secure their third straight victory and join idle National U at the summit.
The Lady Tams, whose bid was hurt by a string of errors down the stretch, suffered their second straight loss after opening the season with a five-set upset over fancied Ateneo.
Kim Dy led DLSU with 18, including a key service ace that gave the Taft-based squad a 9-5 advantage, with Majoy Baron (16), Aduke Ogunsaya (11) and Desiree Cheng (10) helping out in scoring and Michelle Cobb tossing 49 excellent sets. Dawn Macandili anchored the defense with 34 excellent digs and 13 excellent receptions.
Bernadeth Pons came through with 21 for an FEU side that played its third straight five-setter.
Earlier, hot-serving Adamson soared to its second consecutive win with a 25-9, 27-25, 25-20 disposal of skidding University of the Philippines.
Drawing confidence from their breakthrough win over FEU last Sunday, the Lady Falcons totally dominated the Lady Maroons in the opening set, punching in eight of their 17 aces, to gain the upperhand then outduelled their opponents the rest of the way to take solo third at 2-1.
Games tomorrow (Smart Araneta Coliseum) 4:30 p.m. – Blackwater vs Picanto 7 p.m. – GlobalPort vs Magnolia
Meralco, though still heavily undermanned, gained some relief last night, checking a three-game slump with a 92-90 decision over Phoenix Petroleum that kept the Bolts’ flickering playoff hopes alive in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Garvo Lanete, AJ Caram and Jason Ballesteros stepped up as Meralco hung on to dear life with a third win against six losses.
The Fuel Masters rallied from 16 points down and had a chance to steal the game but Jeff Chan missed his three-point attempt at the buzzer. Phoenix dropped to eighth place at 4-5.
“We treated the game like a championship game this conference because, for us, it’s really like a championship. We lost and we’re out,” said Meralco coach Norman Black.
GlobalPort overwhelmed TNT KaTropa with tremendous hustle plays and fashioned out a wire-to-wire 99-84 win to move two notches up to seventh place later in the night.
“TNT was playing three games in a week. We said we take advantage of that. We kept on pushing the ball and we played aggressively and very physical on defense,” said GlobalPort coach Pido Jarencio.
The Texters struggled all night and dropped from seventh to ninth spot with six losses against four wins. They must win their last game versus the NLEX Road Warriors on Feb. 28 to have a shot at a playoff berth. The scores: First Game Meralco 92 – Lanete 24, Hodge 17, Canaleta 9, Caram 9, Newsome 9, Tolomia 9, Hugnatan 6, Amer 5, Salva 4, Ballesteros 0, Baracael 0.
Phoenix 90 – Wilson 24, Wright 16, Jazul 13, Perkins 10, Chan 8, Mendoza 6, Dehesa 5, Intal 4, Kramer 4, Alolino 0, Chua 0, Eriobu 0. Quarterscores: 29-18, 54-40, 70-75, 92-90 Second Game GLOBALPORT 99 – Elorde 17, Pringle 16, Guinto 12, Taha 11, Grey 10, Nabong 10, Teng 9, Araña 6, Gabayni 6, Sargent 2, Anthony 0, Juico 0, Flores 0.
TALK N TEXT 84 – Castro 24, Williams 21, Pogoy 14, Carey 10, Tautuaa 8, Semerad 3, Garcia 2, Reyes 2, Torres 0, Paredes 0.
Quarterscores: 34-12, 61-36, 79-64, 99-84