VNS weathered a late surge from Alpha Insurance in four sets, 19-25, 25-15, 25-22, 26-24, to keep its slim semifinal hopes alive in the 2025 Spikers’ Turf Invitational Conference on Wednesday at the Paco Arena.
The Griffins snapped a four-game skid to notch their first win at 1-4, but now face a must-win scenario in their remaining matches against Far Eastern University-DN Steel and PGJC-Navy if they want to stay in contention for a semis berth.
“Actually, naghirap naman kami kumbaga nag-training talaga kami for the game. So ano lang siya, breaks of the game, maganda ‘yung ginalaw ng mga bata,” said VNS head coach Ralph Ocampo.
(C) Spikers Turf Images
VNS had to dig deep in the closing stretch of the fourth set as the Protectors mounted a furious rally, erasing what once seemed like a comfortable 22-16 cushion. Jerome Lopez capped a 5-0 run with a clever 1-2 play that cut the deficit to just one, 21-22, leaving the young Griffins reeling.
Noy Pedrosa steadied the ship with a thunderous cross-court hit, before Barbie San Andres’ costly attack error pushed VNS to match point, 24-22.
But the fight was far from over. Pedrosa misfired on his service attempt, and Vince Himzon came up with a huge block moments later to force a deuce.
Rommelito Baptista then misfired from the service line, setting the stage for RK Medino’s decisive push. That sealed the victory and kept VNS’ semifinal hopes alive in the tournament organized by Sports Vision and supported by Alpha Insurance, Premiere EMS, Buffalo’s Wings N’ Things, and Arena Plus.
“Kahapon nagkaroon kami ng session about growth [at] mindset na everytime na training, nasa game, they just need to learn and kailangan merong feedback and response sa mga tao para ‘yung growth nila patuloy,” added Ocampo.
Pedrosa led the Griffins with 17 points and six excellent digs, while Medino and Axel Book added 15 and 10 points, respectively.
JD Diwa had nine, and Bembem Bautista and Andreii Bakil contributed eight and seven points, respectively, in the breakthrough win.
(C) Spikers Turf Images
For Alpha Insurance, Howard Guerra spearheaded the offense with 22 excellent sets, while Joshua Cruz recorded 13 excellent receptions and 11 excellent digs.
San Andres paced the Protectors with 18 points, all from attacks, and nine excellent digs, while Himzon added 16 points on 14 attacks and two kill blocks.
The loss dropped Alpha Insurance to 2-3, keeping them in fifth place.
VNS will look to build on this win when they face FEU-DN Steel on Friday at 10:00 AM at the Paco Arena. Alpha Insurance hopes to bounce back against winless PGJC-Navy later the same day at 3:00 PM.
All games are aired live on One Sports and One Sports+, with video-on-demand access available via the Pilipinas Live app. Matches are also streamed on spikersturf.ph.
