In their biggest match of the elimination round, the Bali Pure Purest Water Defenders avenged their Reinforced Conference Finals loss, sweeping the Pocari Sweat Lady Warriors, 25-21, 25-16, 25-23, to book their Premier Volleyball League Open Conference semis seat at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
Coming off a string of disappointing losses, Bali Pure took advantage of a dazed Pocari Sweat side. In each of the first two sets, Bali Pure built big leads. After slipping away late in the first set, the Water Defenders amped up their defense in the second, going up 14-7 and never looking back.
The third set opened with Bali Pure allowing the Lady Warriors slip away. Trailing 10-16, the Water Defenders slowly nipped away at the gap, eventually grabbing the lead, 21-20, off a Grethcel Soltones hit. Pocari Sweat gave up errors from there, giving the match to Bali Pure after ace hitter Myla Pablo smashed a hit long.
Ending the elims with a 4-3 record, Bali Pure avoided a playoff with the BanKo Perlas and entered the Final Four outright.
“Very challenging ang naging season namin. Marami kaming kinailangan i-resolve. I’m just happy na nakuha namin ‘yung panalo ngayon. May pinakita kaming laban na nawala sa amin before,” said Bali Pure head coach Roger Gorayeb.
Far Eastern University standout and Bali Pure open hitter Jerrili Malabanan led all scorers with 14 points, while former Open Conference MVP Grethcel Soltones added 11.
Jeanette Panaga and Myla Pablo provided 10 points each for Pocari Sweat.
The Lady Warriors take on the Hair Fairy-Air Force Lady Jet Spikers in a best-of-three semifinals series beginning on Saturday.
The Scores
Bali Pure (3) – Malabanan 14, Soltones 11, Nabor 6, Urdas 6, Mendiola 3, Nuval 1, Oliveros 1, Singh 1, Pantone (L)
Pocari Sweat (0) – Pablo 10, Panaga 10, De Leon 6, Dadang 4, Guino-O 4, Paran 3, Nepomuceno 2, Kasilag 1, Cayetano 0, Serafica 0, Gohing (L)
