Foton Pilipinas gave the home crowd at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna a highlight-filled show to kick-off the AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship, drubbing the Pocari Sweat of Hong Kong 25-21, 25-14, 25-10.
Foton got off to a shaky start, surrendering a 5-9 deficit in the opening set. The Philippine contingent then got their bearings, serving hard and erased Hong Kong’s lead. With the set tied 12, the defending PSL Grand Prix Champions took control through the attacking of Jovelyn Gonzaga, Jaja Santiago, and Aby Maraño. Foton’s lead grew to as much as eight, 21-13, with Pocari Sweat mounting a late rally that hacked the lead down to three, 22-19. But attacks from imports Lindsay Stalzer and Ariel Usher, and Santiago ended the set in Foton’s favor.
Hong Kong’s early second set errors helped Pilipinas get off the a comfortable lead which ballooned to 10, 16-6, following a Maraño soft hit. At that point, Foton had replaced both their imports with local college stars Cherry Rondina and Ej Laure from the University of Santo Tomas. The Tigresses performed amiably but it was Guimaras-native Gonzaga who propelled Foton to comfortably take the set.
With Foton continuing to go to an All-Filipina lineup, the Cebuana Rondina sparked the third set trashing, scoring thrice early in Foton’s 20-5 takeover. Rondina then finished the job, again scoring thrice in Foton’s last five points.
6’6” Jaja Santiago towered and led all scorers with 12 points, Gonzaga added 11, while Maraño finished with eight.
“We played poorly through that first set. I was glad we were able to recover and use our height and blocking advantage in the end. We’ll play better as the tournament goes,” said Foton’s Italian head coach Fabio Menta.
Team captain Cheung Man Lee led the visitors with eight points while Kwuk Pui Yiu had seven.
Foton (1-0) takes on Vietnam tomorrow, 2:00 pm at the Alonte Sports Arena. A Foton win secures their place into the next phase of competition.
The Scores
Foton (3) – Santiago 12, Gonzaga 11, Maraño 8, Rondina 7, Stalzer 7, Ortiz 5, Laure 4, Usher 3, Araneta 0, Dimaculangan 0, Orendain 0, Perez 0, General (L), Reyes (L)
Kwai Tsing (0) – Cheung 8, Kwok 7, Yu 6, Fung 3, Kwok 1, Yau 1, Chow 0, Tam 0, Chan (L), Siu (L)
