The Philips Gold Lady Slammers averted disaster and cashed in their third five-set win of the season season, thwarting the Foton Tornadoes 25-18, 26-24, 22-25, 23-25, 15-13, marking their fourth win in five games at the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix at the Cuneta Astrodome I Pasay City.
Serbian-native, Bojana Todorovic towed the Lady Slammers with a near triple-double of 29 points, nine digs and 17 excellent receptions. Her fellow import, Alexis Olgard contributed 22 points including six blocks while NU standout, Myla Pablo dished out an import-like 17 markers.
The Lady Slammers took full advantage of their lackadaisical foes in the opening set for an early advantage. The second set nearly swung Foton’s way after Philps Gold surrendered three consecutive set points capped by a controversial missed check ball call on an Olgard quick but the Lady Slammers rallied and took the set off perfect offensive execution.
Foton battled hard in the next two sets, executing plays and getting the jump on the Lady Slammers late in the sets. The fifth set came down to a steady trade of points that the Lady Slammers got the edge on thanks to more varied sequence of plays.
“Kung pwedeng manalo ng straight sets, bakit hindi? Pero a win is a win, kahit five sets pa yan o tatlo, kami pa rin panalo – one win pa din ‘yun. Siguro nasa sa amin na din na hindi pahabulin ‘yung kalaban,” said Philps Gold head coach Francis Vicente.
Foton import, Lindsay Stalzer topped the Tornadoes with 28 points. After claiming their first match of the season, the Tornadoes have dropped their three matches including this loss.
On Tuesday, Foton closes out their season against RC-Cola, who holds a similar 1-3 record, at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
The scores:
Philips Gold (3) – Todorovic 29, Olgard 22, Pablo 17, Gumabao 4, Dadang 4, Dowd 2, Gohing (L)
Foton (2) – Stalzer 28, Messing 20, Santiago 13, Tiangco-Williams 9, Orendain 4, Araneta 2, Macatuno 2, Perez 1, General (L)
