Bali Pure sweeps UST to cop bronze

After a crushing semifinals loss to Customs, the Bali Pure Purest Water Defenders finished their 2016 Shakey’s V-League Reinforced Conference with a win, clinching third place after sweeping the University Santo Tomas Tigresses 25-23, 25-19, 25-11 at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

The Water Defenders were determined to start strong after kicking off Game One sluggishly. The Tigresses, in usual fashion, kept up with Bali Pure until the latter stages of the first set where they surrendered crucial miscues that gave the early lead to the Water Defenders.

The following two frames turned into romps as Bali Pure import Kate Morrell mustered one last dominant scoring performance to push her squad to a quick win.

“We were definitely focused on beginning this match with more energy than last time. I thought we were able to execute and defend better today,” said Bali Pure skipper Kaylee Manns.

“It’s great that we were able to finish this series off in two. We learned a lot from our loss in the semis. We’re happy that we were able to finish the season with a win.”

Nebraska-native Morrell tallied a game-high 24 points while Manns added eight points and 56 excellent sets.

The Tigresses pulled 14 points from incoming Junior Ej Laure while open hitter Cherry Rondina managed 10 markers.

Debuting in this season’s Open Conference, Bali Pure finished in third place for the second time.

The Scores

Bali Pure (3) – Morrell 24, Gervacio 9, Manns 8, Ahomiro 7, Tajima 5, Roces 4, De Jesus 1, Soriano 0, Lazaro (L)

UST (0) – Laure 14, Rondina 10, Lastimosa 7, Meneses 4, Viray 2, Bicar 1, Cortez 1, Francisco 1, Palec 1, Rivera (L)