Picking up where they left off, the Go for Gold-Air Force Jet Spikers bagged their third straight victory in the 2019 Spikers’ Turf Open Conference at the expense of the Easytrip Road Spikers, 25-21, 23-25, 25-17, 25-13, Tuesday at the Paco Arena in Manila.
“Basta tuloy tuloy lang, as long as laging nananalo. Importante lang mag adjust kasi yung mga adjustments namin pagdating sa quarterfinals is madaling makuha namin yung kung ano mang ginagawa ng kalaban,” said Air Force head coach Dante Alinsunurin on the Jet Spikers’ rousing 3-0 start in Group B.
Ranran Abdilla and Fauzi Ismail spearheaded the offensive thrust, with the former pouring in 17 points on 13 attacks, three aces, and a block along with six receptions while the latter converted 12 hits for 12 markers.
On the other hand, Jessie Lopez got things going for the Jet Spikers with 23 excellent sets.
Francis Saura manned the net with five blocks for nine points while Rikko Marmeto patrolled the floor with 20 excellent digs and 15 receptions.
Meanwhile, Milo Parcon and Red Christensen finished with 12 and 11 points respectively, for the Road Spikers who now has an even 1-1 standing.
Bagging their second victories in the tournament were the University of Sto. Tomas Tiger Spikers and the surging Volleyball Never Stops Volleyball Club Griffins.
With his squad at the jaws of defeat, Lorenz Señoron rallied the Tiger Spikers back from two sets down to stun the San Beda University Red Spikers in five sets, 23-25, 17-25, 25-15, 25-23, 15-10.
The 18-year-old product of UST High School poured five of his 15 points in the fifth set to give UST its second win in a row, posting a 2-1 record while also hammering down San Beda at the bottom of Group D with a 0-2 card.
“After nung natalo kami nung two sets, sabi ko sa kanila, ang Spikers’ Turf ang win-loss muna ang tinitignan sa standing so kunin natin yung win. Pero, we do it point at a time, set at a time. They responded naman, gusto nilang manalo,” said UST head coach Odjie Mamon.
On the verge of being swept, the Golden Spikers came to their senses and crawled back from two sets down to force a deciding fifth frame.
Señoron fired three consecutive hits to give his squad an early 5-2 advantage. San Beda then was able to cut the lead to two, but the troika of Lorence Cruz, Wilsan Dela Cruz, and Rainier Flor conspired in a 5-1 rally to build a six-point advantage for UST, 11-5.
San Beda mounted one last run to try and salvage the victory, but Señoron again came to the Tiger Spikers’ defense, delivering the final blows to seal the game.
Genesis Redido added 13 points and 13 digs for UST while team captain Wewe Medina supplied 12 markers. Cruz, meanwhile, dished out 27 excellent sets to go along with four points.
On the other hand, Melver Lapurga converted 12 hits for 14 points while Abdurassad Nursiddik added 10 for the Red Spikers.
Earlier in the day, the Griffins outlasted the skidding Adamson University Soaring Falcons in five sets, 13-25, 26-24, 20-25, 25-15, 15-11, to gain an early share of the lead with Cignal in Group A.
“We did it the hard way, kasi medyo magulo kami kasi ‘di kami nakakapagpractice masyado. So yung system namin nagkakaroon ng problema kasi iba iba yung game play, may time kasi na nakakalimutan pero in the end, siguro start nung set four nakuha na yung tempo,” said VNS VC head coach Ralph Ocampo.
Jason Sarabia led all scorers with 18 points built on 14 attacks, two aces, and two blocks while Samyr Navera recorded four blocks for 17 points on his first game with to power VNS to a 2-0 start in the conference.
Jeremy Merat and Cris Dumago contributed 15 and 14 markers, respectively, while team captain Geuel Asia dished out 28 excellent sets while also recording seven points for the 2-0 Griffins.
Adamson, who dropped to 2-2 after winning its first two assignments, was led by Adrian Viray with 16 points.
