Farm Fresh rebounded impressively after a four-set loss to Creamline, overwhelming Capital1 with a convincing 25-16, 25-17, 25-16 triumph, propelling the Foxies to joint fourth place with the Petro Gazz Angels in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference prelims at the Philsports Arena in Pasig Thursday.
Demonstrating dominance in attacks and blocking while consistently producing hustle plays, the Foxies outplayed the struggling Solar Spikers, who faced continued challenges in execution under the guidance of multi-titled coach Roger Gorayeb.
Despite Capital1’s status as one of the league’s newcomers, they displayed an improved performance compared to their debut three-set setback to the Chery Tiggo Crossovers last Feb. 20.
They actually kept the game close in the second and third sets, but the Foxies used their superior power and experience. In the third frame, Farm Fresh, holding a shaky 16-12 lead, closed out the match by scoring nine of the last 13 points, annexing the victory in an hour and 18 minutes, culminating with Rizza Cruz’s unmolested baseline hit.
Trisha Tubu led the charge for the Jerry Yee-mentored Farm Fresh with 15 points, supported by 11 markers from Chinnie Arroyo, six from Kate Santiago and five apiece from Alyssa Bertolano and Sofia Ildefonso. The Foxies, determined to improve on their 10th place finish in the last AFC, drew impressive setting from Louie Romero, who delivered 12 excellent sets, orchestrating effective plays to Arroyo, Tubu and Santiago on both wings.
The team’s superb floor defense also frustrated several Capital1 assaults with Bertolano and Janel Delerio finishing with nine excellent digs apiece.
Reflecting on their performance, Arroyo said in Filipino: “In our first game, we had a lot of errors. We just applied corrections to address the deficiencies in this game.”
With a humming offense, Farm Fresh registered 47 attack points compared to Capital1’s 26 and doubled their opponent’s four block points.
Capitalizing on the Solar Spikers’ reception issues, the Foxies scored five aces without conceding any, clinching the straight-set victory despite committing 20 unforced errors, five more than the Solar Spikers.
“May mga konting lapses pa rin, pero alam naming na mapa-polish pa talaga naming,” said Tubu. “Marami rin kaming natutunan sa first game na alam namin na makakatulong sa team sa buong season.”
Sydney Niegos top-scored for Capital1 with nine points, while Heather Guino-o, Janeca Lana, Katherine Villegas, Lourdes Clemente and Shirley Salamagos added three points each for the Solar Spikers, who slipped to 0-2.
