Cignal upsets Petron in SLiga curtain-raiser

Games Tuesday (The Arena, San Juan)

4:15 p.m. – Petron vs Meralco

6:15 p.m. – Cignal vs Philips Golds

BIÑAN, Laguna, Philippines – Cignal used some key defensive adjustments down the stretch to pull off a shocking 18-25, 17-25, 25-16, 25-18, 16-14 conquest of reigning champion Petron in the opening of the 2015 Philippine Superliga Grand Prix women’s volleyball tournament yesterday at the Alonte Sports Arena here.

After dwelling in the cellar for the past two conferences, the HD Spikers displayed their defensive might in the third and fourth sets to flatten the Blaze Spikers in two hours, 19 minutes before a massive crowd.

The loss was Petron’s first in the past 16 games, the last having been Nov. 25 last year when it surrendered a five-set decision to Generika.

In the second match, Foton dominated Meralco, 25-23, 25-22, 25-16.

Lindsay Stalzer, one of the most powerful imports last year, nailed 16 kills and two blocks for a game-high 18 points.

Her fellow reinforcement, Katie Messing, had nine points while Angeli Araneta finished with seven markers for the Tornadoes, who pounced hard on the Power Spikers’ jittery start.

Meralco, which missed the services of coach Ramil de Jesus, banked on Christina Alessi’s 10 points.

American reinforcement Ariel Usher was Cignal’s main weapon of destruction, tallying 29 kills and two blocks to finish wih 31 points while a gem of a rookie in Fritz Joy Gallenero delivered 14 points while holding her ground on the defensive end.

Usher’s fellow import – Amanda Anderson – finished with 11 points.

But more than anything, Cignal’s great defensive effort in the third and fourth sets carried it through.

With Dindin Manabat peppering the defense with a barrage of running kills, the HD Spikers decided that to stop Petron, they must stop Manabat.

“Dindin was killing us with her running attacks. I told the girls that stopping Dindin also means stopping Petron,” said Cignal coach Sammy Acaylar.

With Manabat failing to deliver, Cignal took the third set before extending the game to a deciding set.

Petron, however, revived its deadly form and registered a 13-11 lead in the fifth set before Usher squared the count at 13 with a pair of booming kills from the left flank.