Guest amateur player Mary Rhose Dapol turned in a breakout 28-point performance, the last shattering a 15-all count in the decider. Though Kate Santiago extended the match with a blast after a long, tense-filled exchange, Jaila Atienza cashed in on a quick attack and May Luna closed it out with an ace that hit the arms of Jessa Dorog before bouncing off and away from the reach of any of the Foxies.
That ended a rousing two-hour, 25-minute duel of ousted teams, which slugged it out in the last three sets and provided the thrill and excitement that have marked the mid-season conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.
But while Foton broke a winless spell for a 1-3 card in Pool B and assured itself of a stint in the classification round (7th to 12th), Farm Fresh closed out its maiden campaign with a 0-5 slate and out of the classification phase.
The Foxies did appear ready to break through after sweeping the first two sets behind Santiago, Gayle Pascual, Wielyn Estoque, Zamantha Nolasco and Trisha Tubu. But they came up short in the third after surviving six set points and fell short again of their rally in the fourth, leading to the fifth five-set finish in the last seven matches in the conference backed by BingoPlus, ArenaPlus, Mikasa, SMART, Rebisco, Kumu, Asics and SportRadar.
Shaya Adorador, sustaining her rhythm and pace after a wobbly start, scoring four of the next five points that snapped a 7-all count in the decider as Foton threatened to pull away at 11-8. But the Foxies kept on pressing their bid and countered with their own three-hit binge then forced two deadlocks before snatching the lead on a Tubu through-the-block hit after the Foxies foiled Foton’s three straight attacks.
But Dapol, playing out of Perpetual Help in the NCAA, came through with a kill and after Estoque scored on a dump off a missed Foton set to shove the Foxies back on top, Jasmine Nabor scored on an off-the-block hit and Dapol banged in an ace as the Tornadoes regained the lead which they never relinquished.
Santiago stalled the Tornadoes with a hit but Atienza and Luna combined at endgame to deliver the hard-earned win for Foton.
The match was so tight that Farm Fresh edged Foton in spikes, 74-72, and both teams ended up with 12 blocks and six aces.
But the Tornadoes scored 25 points off the Foxies’ miscues while yielding 23 of their own.
Farm Fresh, meanwhile, produced more excellent digs, 86-67, excellent sets, 19-16, and receptions, 41-27. But the Foxies failed to sustain their stretch-run fightback as the Tornadoes proved steadier in the clutch to hack out the win.
Adorador backed Dapol’s solid game with 24 points while Seth Rodriguez scored heavily in the middle midway through and finished with 13 points and Atienza and Nabor added nine and five points, respectively. Bernadette Flora scored three points but was carried out midway in the second set after sustaining injury following a bad fall.
Santiago and Estoque matched 22-point outputs, Pascual and Tubu finished with 12 markers each while Nolasco and Aprylle Tagsip came up with 10 and eight points, respectively, for Farm Fresh.
