The talent-laden Cagayan Valley Rising Suns made quick work of the struggling Cavite-Fourbees Patriots in three sets, 25-16, 25-18, 25-15 at the San Juan Arena.
Using a balanced scoring assault, Cagayan outperformed the Patriots in every offensive category, finishing with a 37-30 attacks gap, 9-3 block kills advantage, and a 6-1 service ace tally.
Reigning UAAP MVP, Marck Espejo opened the match splendidly for Cagayan, notching all three of his points to give Cagayan a slim 11-10 advantage. From there, Cagayan dominated the set behind Middle Blocker, Peter Torres’ continually expanding offensive repertoire. Torres used his back row attacks and much-improved jump serve to score four of his five first set points in a 10-2 run that put Cagayan decisively ahead, 23-12.
Cagayan built an 8-2 lead early in the second set prompting Coach Nes Pamilar to sub in his bench players. The change in lineup, however, did not affect Cagayan’s high octane attack as the substitutes constantly kept Cagayan up by four and quelled all Cavite counter-runs. A string of Cagayan attack errors trimmed their advantage to two, 18-16, but Cagayan quickly restored order with well-coordinated combination attacks en route to another comfortably won set.
Open Hitter, Rudy Gatdula started the final set of the match and scored all six of his points to lead Cagayan to another romping. Coach Pamilar periodically reinserted his starters – Marck Espejo, Berlin Paglinawan, and Peter Torres – throughout the set, pole-vaulting Cagayan took a 19-12 lead off a thundering Berlin Paglinawan attack. Cavite just couldn’t match Cagayan’s firepower in the end and wound up piling up 23 attack errors in the scramble.
“Maganda ‘yung nangyari sa amin nitong nakaraang linggo, kasi mas madalas kami nakapag-ensayo,” said Coach Pamilar. When asked about his upcoming match with fellow heavyweight PLDT, Coach Pamilar was quick to play down the matchup. “Lahat naman ng team sa liga na ‘to malakas. Kahit masasabi nating masmarami silang players, dapat nandun pa ‘rin ‘yung same focus namin,” Pamilar replied.
Both going into the match with undefeated records, Cagayan and PLDT will faceoff on April 14 while Cavite will look to get its first win as they take on Army on the same day.
The Scores:
Cagayan (3) РPaglinawan 8, Pirante 7, Torres P. 6, Gatdula 6, Intal 6, Torres A. 5, Canlas 4, Calderon 4, Espejo 3, Santos 2, Zamora 1, Ordo̱ez 0, Ramos (L), Dizon (L)
Cavite (0) РComing 7, Ytorzaita 6, David 6, Sioson 4, Sala̱an 4, Doliente 4, Ramos 1, De Pedro 1, Catipay 1, Abcede 0, Leang 0, Kalingking (L), Baroy (L)
