The Foton Blue Energy finally snapped their three-game skid as the turned back the Sta. Lucia Lady Realtors, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18, to shut down the preliminaries on a winning note in the Chooks-to-Go Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference Tuesday at the Batangas City Sports Coliseum.
Mina Aganon, Carla Sandoval, and Maika Ortiz sizzled offensively to tow the Tornadoes back into the win column.
Aganon delivered 17 points built on 12 kills, four aces and a kill block on top of a tremendous backline defense with 13 digs while Sandoval and Ortiz had 12 and 11 markers, respectively.
Ivy Perez was also instrumental in her hometown game as she dished out 25 excellent sets for Foton coach Aaron Velez, who was glad to march into the sudden-death quarterfinals on a winning note.
“I think we forgot to enjoy we had a great start but suddenly my players were affected with the unfortunate situations that happened to our team,” said Velez referring to key losses Arianne Layug and Shaya Adorador, who were both out indefinitely due to various injuries.
“There were lapses in the first two sets but when my players smiled and started to enjoy the game, we found our confidence,” he added.
The Tornadoes finished at fourth with a 6-4 win-loss record to forge a tie with idle Generika-Ayala Lifesavers in the team standings.
The Lifesavers, however, will take the third spot after collecting a superior quotient than the Tornadoes.
Foton will take on fifth placer, which could either be Smart (4-6) or Cignal (4-5) depending on the outcome of the last match.
The Lady Realtors managed to put up a good fight in their neck-and-neck duel, splitting the first two sets.
Pamela Lastimosa scored a season-high 21 points while Souzan Raslan and Jhoana Maraguinot added 16 and 11 points, respectively, for the Lady Realtors, who will face heavyweight Petron in the do-or-die quarterfinals on Thursday also in this venue.
