Lady Troopers secure third semis slot

PacificTown Army turned an expected fierce duel for third with BanKo-Perlas into a virtual workout, scoring a lopsided 25-18, 25-14, 25-20 victory to secure the No. 3 spot in the Final Four of the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan yesterday.

Olena Lymareva-Flink of Ukraine closed out her performance the way she started it – in fiery fashion, blasting in a kill to wrap up the 69-minute romp that formalized the Lady Troopers’ claim on the third semis seat with a 5-5 card.

BanKo-Perlas wound up with a 4-6 for fourth but will need to wait for the result of the Motolite-PetroGazz clash being played at presstime time to determine whether the Perlas Spikers would officially nail the last Final Four seat or go through a playoff.

With the 3-5 mark, the Motolite Power Builders must hurdle the Angels to force a sudden death for the coveted fourth spot.

Creamline scored an expected 25-19, 25-15, 25-18 victory over BaliPure later in the day to cap its nine-game run following an opening game loss to PetroGazz and finish the elims with a 9-1 card.

Ace setter Jia Morado failed to suit up with a shoulder injury but Kyle Negrito filled up the slack by coming through with 17 excellent sets and the rest played just good enough to get past the Water Defenders, who closed out their stint without a win in 10 games.

Creamline is still awaiting the result of the PetroGazzMotolite game at presstime to determine its seeding in the Final Four which fires off Wednesday.

In case Motolite wins, the playoff with BanKo-Perlas will be held at 4 p.m. today, also in San Juan.

As No. 3, PacificTown will face the No. 2 team in the semis, a best-of-three affair, beginning Wednesday.