Akari muddled up the 2022 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference semis race by upending Choco Mucho in a thriller of a five-setter, 23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 21-25, 15-12, Thursday at the Filoil Ecooil Centre.
Heavy-hitting Prisilla Rivera banged away a league-record 44 points and drew solid backup from Erika Raagas, Janine Marciano, Krich Macaslang and Geneveve Casugod as the Chargers snapped a three-game skid, including a five-set defeat to the first semifinalist Chery Tiggo Crossovers, to keep their hopes alive at 2-4 (win-loss) with two elims games left against the PLDT High Speed Hitters (1-3) and the F2 Logistics Cargo Movers (2-2).
The loss dropped the Flying Titans to 2-3.
Rivera delivered Akari’s last four points, including a backrow attack that made it 12-10, a kill that negated Deanna Wong’s point on a 1-2 play and a block touch that they successfully challenged that put the Chargers at match point.
And after counterpart Odina Aliyeva hammered out her 26th point on a crosscourt kill, the three-time Olympian from Dominican Republic countered with an off-the-block hit that closed out the tense-filled decider for the crucial win.
Earlier, Marciano, who added 18 points, scored on back-to-back hits that gave Akari an 11-8 cushion, the last a clever push that capped Akari’s big two digs off Aliyeva’s power hits.
