ILOCOS NORTE - Sta. Lucia weathered PLDT Home Fibr's spirited rally in the last two sets and pounded out a 25-18, 25-19, 25-21 victory as the Lady Realtors got back into the thick of things in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference at the PCV Socio-Civic Cultural Center here in Bacarra, Monday.
Mika Reyes bounced back from a measly three-hit showing in the team's four-set setback to Creamline in the pro league inaugurals last Saturday, coming away with nine attack points, a block, and an ace for an 11-point production that helped anchor the Lady Realtors' straight-set victory.
Sta. Lucia could've made it a lot quicker but heavy downpour caused another 40-minute delay in the match following a long suspension of the Petro Gazz-Army clash that took five hours and six minutes to finish Sunday.
Down by a set and 15-20 behind in the second frame, the Power Hitters strung up three straight hits behind Jorelle Singh and Joy Soyud to threaten but the Lady Realtors came out of a timely huddle an organized lot with Dell Palomata stepping up with a push and a quick hit.
A couple of PLDT miscues and a Jonah Sabete power hit put Sta. Lucia a set away from recovering from a Creamline loss and back in the hunt in the short, cutthroat single round elims among 10 teams of varying strengths and characters.
But it didn't come easy as the Power Hitters kept the game close in the third until Palomata and Sabete combined in an 8-2 run to pull away at 19-11 with the latter capping the big run with another powerful blast that sent libero Alyssa Eroa rolling over in impact.
Like in the second set, however, the Power Hitters refused to give up as Singh fired back-to-back hits to spike five unanswered points that put PLDT within, 21-22. But as in the previous frame, the Lady Realtors uncorked a strong finishing kick aided by Isa Molde's mishit.
MJ Philips then produced a kill block against Vira Guillema and veteran Aiza Maizo-Pontillas finished off the Power Hitters, who also dropped a straight-set loss to the Chery Tiggo Crossovers Saturday, with a down-the-line hit.
