Although they are admittedly still not at full strength, Petron Blaze Spikers head coach Shaq Delos Santos took his team’s first win of the PSL All-Filipino Conference second round in stride.
The star-studded Petron stumbled for a set but had enough down the stretch to overwhelm the Generika-Ayala Lifesavers, 25-21, 24-26, 25-21, 25-18, at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
Though the Blaze Spikers missed the services of open hitter Bernadeth Pons, who was attending her graduation rites, and had Cherry Rondina hampered with a right ankle sprain, veterans Ces Molina and Aiza Maizo-Pontillas carried the offensive load.
Both are part of the Philippine Team that will compete in the AVC Women’s Seniors Championship and Southeast Asian Games. Molina dropped 20 points, while Pontillas provided 17.
Delos Santos rued his team’s effort in the second set but still acknowledged that minor slip-ups like those are part of the process of going through a season.
“Honestly, mabagal ‘yung nilaro namin sa normal naming nilalaro. Mabuti na lang nakasabay kami. Parang kinulang kami sa gigil. Kailangan ‘yun para manalo nakakatulong ‘yun sa quality ng nilalaro namin,” said Delos Santos.
“Hopefully, mawork-out pa namin ‘to lalo kapag kumpleto na kami,” the former FEU mentor furthered.
After dropping the second set, Petron went on to crush Generika-Ayala in the following frames. Pontillas led a 5-0 charge that buried the Lifesavers in 17-10 hole in the third frame. In the fourth frame, errors coupled with solid Petron offense did the Lifesavers in as they succumbed to a 14-19 deficit.
The Blaze Spikers improved to a 3-1 record in Group C, just behind Foton (4-0) and even with Cignal (3-1), their opponents on Thursday,
Partty Orendain led the Lifesavers with 14 points, while Angeli Araneta and Fiolla Ceballos each added 13.
Generika-Ayala fell to a 2-2 slate and to the bottom of Group C.
The Scores
Petron (3) – Molina 20, Pontillas 17, Rondina 7, Basas 6, Aganon 4, Palma 4, Reyes 4, Dimculangan 3, Meneses 2, Tunay 2, Hingpit 1, Duremdes (L)
Generika-Ayala (1) – Orendain 14, Araneta 13, Ceballos 13, Casugod 4, Masangkay 4, Lopez 3, Adorador 1, Buitre 0, Cerveza 0, Cortez 0, General (L)
