Prisilla Rivera starred as Akari scored its first-ever victory after sweeping United Auctioneers Inc-Army, 25-20, 25-22, 25-22 in the 2022 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference, Saturday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
The three-time Olympian from Dominican Republic dropped a game-high 25 points – all from attacks – to go along with 11 excellent receptions to give head coach Jorge Souza de Brito and the Akari franchise their first PVL win.
“The first win is always a good win. Of course, we’re happy because of this, we’ve been working all this week. We’re working hard to try to find our first victory and the guys really deserve this,” said de Brito after the win. “I’m really proud of them and we’ll be ready for the next.”
Janine Marciano provided 10 points and 15 excellent receptions as the Chargers moved to 1-1 while Erika Raagas and Ezra Madrigal had nine and seven markers, respectively.
Michelle Cobb dished 20 excellent sets laced with two points while Dani Ravena had 15 digs and eight receptions.
After taking the first set without much resistance, Akari needed to overcome a late rally from Laura Condotta in set two to mount a 2-0 advantage against the Troopers.
The Chargers were already ahead by four, 23-19, after a Rivera backrow attack in the third before Nene Bautista and Laura Condotta nailed consecutive hits to trim the lead to just two.
Rivera once again came through for Akari to put the team at match point, 24-22, but a service error from Madrigal kept UAI-Army alive. Lycha Ebon then scored the match-clinching kill that handed the Troopers their second consecutive loss.
Condotta led the way for UAI-Army with 13 points and 12 digs while Gonzaga and Jeanette Villareal had eight and seven, respectively.
Akari takes on Chery Tiggo on Thursday at 2:30 PM while UAI-Army looks to notch its first win against the winless F2 Logistics also at 2:30 PM.
