Foton holds off Generika, joins SLiga leaders

New-look Foton Tornadoes Blue Energy joined the early leaders of the Philippine Superliga All Filipino Conference as they edged erratic Generika Ayala in a thrilling five-setter, 20-25, 25-21, 25-14, 19-25, 15-5, last night at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

Mina Aganon and Maika Ortiz carried the offensive load with 20 and 12, respectively, as Foton drew level with opening day victors Smart, Petron and F2 atop the field.

Ortiz provided the leadership for the Tornadoes, who are campaigning without the power sisters Jaja Santiago and Dindin Manabat this conference. The Santiagos are now playing in Japan.

“As the leader, it’s not really a big of a challenge for me because everyone in the team really contributes a lot,” said Ortiz. Aganon proved up to the task, too. “We can’t always say that we don’t have Dindin and Jaja, we have to step up for the team,” said Aganon. “We have to make use of what we have in our team right now.”

Ortiz led the way as Foton bounced back from a slow start to take the middle sets. Then in the fifth, Aganon started things off with back-to-back aces and Shaya Adorador later joined the fray to give the Tornadoes a 10-4 cushion.

Foton showed more poise down the stretch and pounced on the seven errors of the Life Savers in the decider to seal the deal. In all, Generika committed 42 miscues. Meanwhile, Cignal ace Rachel Anne Daquis was named PSL Ambassador during yesterday’s opening ceremonies.

“It’s a great opportunity for me to inspire people. I want to be a role model for the youth and my co-athletes,” said Daquis.