The 1-2 punch of Lindsey Vander Weide and MJ Phillips made sure that Petro Gazz would come out alive in their second consecutive five-set showdown in the 2022 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference.
Phillips hammered down four consecutive points in a key rally while Vander Weide nailed the final hits in the fifth set to help the Angels close out the Crossovers, 25-14, 24-26, 25-13, 21-25, 15-9, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday night.
The American import finished the game with a match-high 29 points on 25 attacks, two aces, and two kill blocks to go along with 12 excellent digs while the Filipina-American middle blocker backstopped her with 23 points highlighted by seven huge blocks, 15 attacks, and an ace.
Phillips said that she did not want to let her team down, especially in the final set. Vander Weide, meanwhile, said that she was very confident that the former will deliver during crunch time and that having a player like Phillips beside her eases her workload.
“My thoughts at that moment was just like, we just gotta win. Whatever it has to take, whatever we have to do, we just gotta do it. Nothing was gonna get past us, no ball was gonna get dropped. That was just our mentality the whole way through,” said Phillips after the victory that placed her at solo third with a 4-2 slate.
“Definitely thinking the same thing. MJ always comes up clutch in moments like that. I knew she was gonna do it. I was very confident that she is gonna do her job, she was gonna put the ball away, she’s gonna close the block. So having someone on the court like that next to you, in those clutch moments, especially in fifth sets, is a great feeling,” added Vander Weide.
Prior to this win, Petro Gazz figured in a close encounter with Cignal where they crawled back from a 0-2 deficit only to crumble in the final set. They eventually lost the match, 25-22, 34-32, 15-25, 16-25, 15-13, last Thursday.
Vander Weide said that this win is exactly what the Angels needed after coming up short against the HD Spikers.
Moreover, she bared that this victory will definitely be a huge boost for the morale of the team as they look to secure one of the final two semifinals spots in their remaining assignments against the United Auctioneers Inc-Army and the F2 Logistics, respectively.
“Definitely feels great to get this win, especially after that tough five-set loss. Definitely a confidence booster, and I think it was something that we needed. We haven’t been feeling great, and I think this brought us back to where we needed to be.”
