Santa Rosa City took advantage of a Ranran Abdilla-less Philippine Air Force in straight sets, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23, for its third straight win in the 2023 Spikers’ Turf Open Conference at Paco Manila, Friday.
The Airmen surely missed Abdilla, who is out indefinitely due to a left knee injury he suffered while training for beach volleyball. He leads the league in scoring as of February 22 with 107 points in six games played.
Air Force looked on its way to extending the match after grabbing a 23-20 lead in the third set but the Lions fought back with five straight points via Kevin Montemayor, Anrie Bakil, and Jerico Adajar’s efforts to improve to 3-4 for solo seventh.
“They worked hard and siguro yung breaks of the game talagang nag favor din sa amin. Also syempre yung ensayo namin, yung situational yung dikit na score naaayos namin,” said Santa Rosa head coach Edu Lirio.
“Sabi ko lang puso at maglaro nang matalino kasi more of a mental game ang volleyball, hindi lang palaging palakasan,” he added on their comeback.
Yoyong Mendoza topscored for the Lions with 13 points laced with 10 excellent receptions and nine digs but it was Adajar who got his shining moment by tossing 13 excellent sets and getting active in scoring with nine points on four blocks, three attacks, and two aces for nine points.
Middle blockers Bakil and Gabriel Magsino also chipped in nine and seven points, respectively.
JR Labrado had 15 points while Edwin Tolentino got 13 of his own for the Airmen, who fell to their fourth straight demise for a 1-6 record at the bottom.
Air Force will try to end its skid on Wednesday against Philippine Army at 12:30 pm, while Santa Rosa will aim to extend its winning stretch to four next Friday against returning Iloilo at 5:30 pm.
