Cignal, Kobe PSL champs

Kobe Shinwa Women’s University recovered from a third-set meltdown to register a 25-17, 25-19, 21-25, 25-18 victory over Petron and claim the title of the 2017 Belo Philippine Superliga (PSL) Invitational Conference last night at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.

Cignal emerged as cochampion after hacking out an emphatic 25-20, 25-18, 25-22 win over Foton earlier and emerging as the top local side.

Meanwhile, Generika-Ayala crushed Cocolife, 25-18, 26-24, 2624, to place fourth in the women’s club tourney bankrolled by Asics, Mikasa, Mueller and Senoh with TV5 as official broadcast partner.

Petron, which waxed hot with an unbeaten streak in the classification phase, settled for third after it surrendered a fourset decision to Cignal in the opening match of the final round Thursday.

Jovelyn Gonzaga of Cignal defended her Most Valuable Player title while Frances Molina of Petron and Rachel Anne Daquis of Cignal were the best outside hitters; Chichiro Fujiwara of Kobe Shinwa and Maica Morada of Cignal best middle blockers; Mary Grace Berte of Foton best opposite spiker; Chie Saet of Cignal best setter; Jheck Dionela of Cignal best libero.

Mariko Fujiwara delivered 13 kills to finish with 14 points while Kana Edamatsu had 13 hits for the Japanese squad, which melted under pressure from the gallant home squad before engineering a fierce fightback in the fourth set.

“We had fun facing your team,” said Japanese coach Kiyokazu Yamamoto.