Petro Gazz kept its domination of Cignal, coming away with a 28-26, 25-18, 25-13 victory to sustain its climb after a stinging opening game stumble in the Premier Volleyball League All Filipino Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig on Saturday.
But the Angels had to go through some anxious moments in the first set before disposing of the HD Spikers, whom they swept in last year’s Reinforced Conference finals behind then top hitter Myla Pablo.
But the former National U ace has opted to join the F2 Logistics camp before the start of the league’s centerpiece tournament and the Angels sputtered and struggled and lost in three against the solid Creamline Cool Smashers in the inaugurals last Feb. 4.
They, however, bounced back strong with a similar shutout win over the Choco Mucho Flying Titans last Feb. 9 and the Angels’ straight-set romp over the HD Spikers coming off a long break spoke well of the team’s condition, form and determination needed to shine in a cutthroat single round robin elims among nine teams of equal strength.
“We just kept the pace of our game,” said the veteran Grethcel Soltones, now back as Petro Gazz spearhead. She rammed in 13 kills and one block to finish with 14 points and earn the game’s top honors.
The win hiked Petro Gazz’ card to 2-1 for joint third with F2 Logistics and behind Creamline and Chery Tiggo’s 3-0 marks while Cignal slipped to seventh with a 1-3 card.
Remy Palma fired 15 points, including 10 on attacks in various fashions, while coming through with four blocks. Djanel Cheng tossed 19 excellent sets and Cienne Cruz and Jellie Tempiatura finished with 14 excellent receptions and 11 excellent digs, respectively, for the Angels.
But against the HD Spikers, she was on target and the rest rode on her exploits to annex the victory which also served as a big morale-boost as they prime up against the PLDT High Speed Hitters on Thursday.
“Well, morale booster para sa amin kasi sabi ko, big teams ung mauuna namin (kalaban) – Creamline, Choco Mucho at Cignal,” said Petro Gazz coach Oliver Almadro.
“So, sabi ko sa kanila, we have to get one game at a time and I reminded them that they already did it before, so they can do it again,” he added, referring to the Angels’ win over the HD Spikers in the Reinforced finals. “Ako, taga-motivate lang at taga-guide.”
Cignal, which now lost four consecutive games to Petro Gazz, drew 11 points from Ces Molina, while Rachel Anne Daquis had mine markers.
The Angels actually blew three set points in the opener, 24-21, as the HD Spikers racked up three straight hits behind Molina, Chai Troncoso and Daquis to force extension.
The Angels also failed to nail the win in two cracks at the frame but Soltones fired a crosscourt hit and Cignal’s Gel Cayuna’s 1-2 play backfired as it went wide, enabling the former to go 1-set up.
While the Angels stepped up their attack in the next two, the HD Spikers struggled trying to neutralize them while fumbling in their offense marred by erratic plays. Petro Gazz unloaded 45 kills against Cignal’s 33 and parlayed the HD Spikers’ miscues to 23 points while giving up 14 of their own.
The HD Spikers kept the third set close in the early going but the Angels uncorked a 9-1 run to go up, 16-8, then put to naught the former’s back-to-back hits that closed the game at six with another series of assaults, leading to a 21-13 bulge with Daquis’ attack that hit the antenna and Cignal’s net violation accounting for the Angels’ last two points.
