BACARRA, ILOCOS NORTE — Jovie Prado provided the spark as Sta. Lucia snapped its two-game losing streak after a four-set win over Black Mamba-Army, 25-23, 25-20, 22-25, 25-18, in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference on Monday here at the PCV Socio-Civic and Cultural Center.
The Lady Realtors now have 2-3 win-loss card.
With Prado leading the charge, Sta. Lucia managed to build a seven-point cushion, 17-10, in the game-clinching fourth set.
Both teams then exchanged hits before a service error from Army stretched the Lady Realtors’ lead to eight, 21-13.
The Lady Troopers brought the lead down to five before Prado put Sta. Lucia to match-point.
Jonah Sabete ended the match with a kill, 25-18.
“Ano e, yun minsan ang sakit namin. Yung titigil, tapos tatrabaho ulit, titigil tapos trabaho so simple lang sinabi ko lang na nandito na tayo e, ‘di ba,” said Sta. Lucia head coach Eddieson Orcullo.
“Baka ‘pag dating sa dulo mag sisihan pa tayo. Mas maganda ngayon pa lang trabahuhin na natin para hindi na makakuha ng another set pa yung Army kasi alam natin kapag nabuhayan ‘yan, siyempre yung mga beterano kapag nabuhayan sa dulo medyo mahirap talunin ‘yan kaya dapat dire-diretsuhin na natin,” he added.
Prado delivered 17 big points for the Lady Realtors — 15 of which all came from attacks.
MJ Phillips and Sabete chipped in 14 and 13 points, respectively. The former also had 15 digs while the latter had 14 receptions.
Meanwhile, Djanel Cheng led the offense with 22 excellent sets and four markers while defensive specialist Bang Pineda tallied 19 digs and 13 receptions.
Struggling to find rhythm in the opening set, Sta. Lucia found success in the form of Aiza Maizo-Pontillas who scored four straight hits to close the tight 25-23 affair.
The team then leaned on the duo of Prado and Sabete in the 25-20 second set win before Army snatched the third set through a 25-22 result.
Royse Tubino and Ging Balse-Pabayo both had 13 points in the loss while Jovelyn Gonzaga ended up with 11 points and 18 excellent digs.
This is Black Mamba-Army’s second consecutive loss in four outings.
Sta. Lucia will next go up against Chery Tiggo on Wednesday at 3:00 PM while Black Mamba-Army will try and bounce back against PLDT on Thursday at 6:00 PM.
