The Foton Tornadoes breezed past the Cignal HD Spikers in straight sets, 25-20, 25-21, 25-9, in the first round of elimination in the Philippine Superliga 2016 All-Filipino conference, Sunday afternoon at the Filoil Flying V Centre.
With the win, Foton split its two-game weekend to come back to an even 3-3 win-loss record, which proves the team’s worth, said head coach Vilet Ponce De Leon.
“The team stepped up du’n sa gusto naming mangyari. Hindi kami natuwa du’n sa laro namin yesterday. Make or break talaga kami ngayon, so sabi ko sa kanila, patunayan nila sa performance namin ‘yung worth namin,” said Ponce De Leon.
The Foton Tornadoes started the game strong, capping their 25-20 first set win with a quick attack by Jaja Santiago.
The NU Lady Bulldog led all scorers with a total of 14 points, off 11 kills and three blocks.
The opposing sides were tied after the second technical timeout of the second set, 16-16, but a 7-3 run by the Tornadoes highlighted by a couple of powerful hits by Cherry Rondina carried them to lead by four, 23-19, forcing coach Sammy Acaylar to call a timeout.
After their huddle the HD Spikers got back into the set via a down-the-line hit by Cherry May Vivas and a tip by team captain Michelle Laborte. Cross court attacks by Angeli Araneta and Patty Orendain, however, carried Foton to a two-set advantage.
Rondina took the wheel for Foton to open the third set with a 16-6 run, capped by her four of her 10 points. The team rode off the wide separation to grab the game-winning set, 25-9.
“So far, happy naman kami du’n sa development ng team namin. Paangat na ‘yung team namin. Nasa 85-90 percent na kami ngayon,” closed Foton’s coach.
The Foton Tornadoes (3-3) look to entertain their fans in Batangas as they face the Standard Insurance-Navy Corvettes (2-4) on Tuesday at the Batangas City Coliseum, while Cignal (1-5) will try to grab its second win of the conference against Amy’s Kitchen (0-5) on Saturday at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
The Scores:
Foton (3) – Santiago 14, Rondina 10, Araneta 9, Orendain 7, Ortiz 6, Laure 5, Dimaculangan 2, Cerveza 1, Salamagos 1, Henson 0, Perez 0, Macatuno 0, Acevedo (L), General (L)
Cignal (0) – Vivas 11, Panaga 9, Laborte 6, Tunay 5, Mandapat 2, Aguilar 1, Navarro 0, Cheng 0, Berte 0, Musa 0, Llagoso 0, Hingpit 0, Dionela (L), Cortel (L)
