Bali Pure crushes Valdez, Creamline to march to V-League semis
MANILA – The Bali Pure Water Defenders clinched an outright s emifinals seat in the 2017 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference with a 20- 25, 25- 23, 19- 25, 25- 18, 15- 7 win over the Creamline Cool Smashers on Tuesday night at the San Juan Arena.
American middle blocker Jennifer Keddy led the way with 18 points for the Water Defenders, which has locked i n on t he f i rst outright semifinals seat with its 7- 2 win-loss record.
Risa Sato added 16 markers, whil e Th a i reinforcement Jeng Bualee contributed 15 points for the Water Defenders, which hopes to continue its winning run against the Perlas Lady Spikers today.
After splitting the first four sets, the Water Defenders
n rt gained the early lead in the fifth frame at 5-3 on errors by the Cool Smashers. The Water Defenders then zoomed to a 10- 5 edge behind Bualee and Sato.
The lead grew further to 13- 6 with conversions from Bualee. With the Cool Smashers struggling on offense, the Water Defenders finished off the match with hits from Bualee and Keddy.
“( the outright semis) Malaking bagay ‘ t o kami.
kasi At least, may chance kami makakapgpahinga na t o recover because we won’t have to play in the quarterfinals. That’s big for our team,” said Water Defenders head coach Roger Gorayeb.
Thai i mport Kuttika Kawepin finished with 26 points, while Laura Schaudt added 16 markers for the Cool Smashers, which only got two points from Alyssa Valdez after playing limited minutes.
In the other match, the Power Smashers kept its hopes alive for the second outright semifinals slot with a 25-23, 16-25, 25-20, 25-23 victory over the Philippine Air Force Jet Spikers./
PN