Nearly mirroring their encounter last week, the young Megabuilders Volley Bolts turned the tables on their veteran mentors Philippine Air Force Jet Spikers and took the series edge in their best-of-three PVL Open Conference semis series in five sets, 19-25, 16-25, 25-20, 26-24, 15-10, at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
The Megabuilders got off to their usual slow start, struggling on the receive, thus halting their high-powered offense. According to Megabuilders assistant coach Dong Dela Cruz, the Volley Bolts needed to adjust their mindset after dropping the first two sets.
“Kinailangan namin maglaro nang mas matalino. Karamihan ng mga mali namin noon galing sa amin, kinailangan namin mag-adjust,” Dela Cruz said.
For the remainder of the match, the Volley Bolts out-hustled the Jet Spikers. After squeezing out a tight fourth set win, the Mega Builders overwhelmed Air Force in the decider.
“Masaya kami na nanalo. Ang sa amin na lang ngayon is kailangan namin maituloy haggang bukas para di na tumagal ‘yung semis,” added Dela Cruz.
Fresh from a two-week training camp in South Korea with the National Team, Bryan Bagunas topped the National University-powered Megabuilders with 20 points off 14 attacks and six aces. Skipper Francis Saura provided 18 points built on 12 spikes, five blocks, and an ace.
Jeffrey Malabanan and Howard Mojica managed 16 points, apiece for Air Force.
The Megabuilders can close the series out in Game Two tomorrow.
The Scores
Megabuilders (3) – Bagunas 20, Saura 18, Ismail 16, Malabunga 10, Natividad 4, Dayandante 1, Gampong 1, Ancheta 0, Ponti 0, Marcos (L)
Air Force (2) – Malabanan 16, Mojica 16, Tolentino 12, Abdilla 11, Jeruz 11, Labrador 7, Lopez 3, De Ocampo 1, Avila 0, Chavez (L)
