BLAZING WAY TO SEMIS
Petron halts Foton for fourth straight win
Petron pulled through in a tight third set and completed a 25- 12, 25- 10, 25- 23 victory over arch rival Foton to nail the first semifinal berth in the BeloPhilippine Superliga Invitational Conference at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan yesterday.
The Blaze Spikers stamped their class to dominate the first two frames but struggled in the third, needing to overcome a 22- 23 deficit to fashion out the straight- set victory, their fourth straight in the tournament bankrolled by Senoh, Mikasa, Asics and Mueller with TV5 as official broadcast partner.
Pet ron’ s Min aAga non hammered in a kill from the open position while Foton’s Gretchel Soltones’ attack went wide as the Blaze Spikers took the last three points to snare the win.
Veteran Aiza Maizo-Pontillas stepped up to deliver 11 hits while Aganon finished with eight markers.
Petron is now safely in the next round where it would be joined by two other teams together with a guest team from Japan. Semifinal action unwraps on March 30.
“We were expecting a close game,” said Petron coach Shaq Delos Santos, who called the shots for the Blaze Spikers when they suffered a heart-breaking setback to Foton in the finals of the PSL Grand Prix last year. “Good thing the girls followed the game plan and we made it to the semifinals.”
Delos Santos, however, said the next round would be an entirely different story.
“We still have to adjust. Almost all of our players are new. We have to work hard because all teams are still adjusting.”
Soltones, a fresh recruit from San Sebastian College, tallied seven points while Yumi Yongco had five markers for the Tornadoes.