Petron routs Navy; Cignal blasts Amy’s

MANILA, Philippines – Defending champion Petron salvaged some measure of pride with a 25-16, 25-18, 25-19 rout of Standard Insurance-Navy  to finish the preliminary round on a high note yesterday in the 2016 Philippine Superliga women’s volleyball All-Filipino Conference at The Arena in San Juan.

Skipper Aiza Maizo-Pontillas led the Tri-Active Spikers to their fifth win in seven games with 15 points.

She received enough support from Maica Morada who scored 13, while Remy Palma, Bernadeth Pons and Ces Molina each had nine markers.

The win was enough for Petron to make up for the losses it absorbed from undefeated leaders RC Cola-Army and F2 Logistics, which had 6-0 records as of press time.

Cignal, meanwhile, left no room for Amy’s to recover and won convincingly, 25-21, 25-12, 25-21, in the first game.

Jeannette Panaga, College of St. Benilde and the NCAA’s best blocker, had 12 hits in all her 18 points, while Cherry May Vivas had 10 points as the DH Spikers notched their second win in seven matches at the end of the preliminaries.

HD Spikers coach Sammy Acaylar, however, made known he was not satisfied with his wards’ performance despite dealing Amy’s its seventh straight defeat in as many games in the club tournament bankrolled by KLab Cyscorpions, Mikasa, Mueller and Asics with TV5 as official broadcast partner.

“Kahit nanalo kami hindi ako satisfied kasi as I said before, ‘yung ipinapakita nila sa ensayo hindi ganoon kaganda sa actual game,” said Acaylar.

“Maybe something’s wrong psychologically with my players kasi napapansin ko sa kanila na kapag nauunahan biglang nada-down. Hindi nila alam kung paano i-recover ang sarili nila,” he added.

Petron coach George Pascua scored the win by tweaking his combinations, placing reliable players Morada, Maizo-Pontillas, Molina, and AC Masangkay with fresh faces Bernadeth Pons and Remy Palma.

FIVB World Club Women’s Championship-bound Jen Reyes was also impressive on the defensive end and had  15 digs and 15 excellent receptions for Petron.

Petron will face RC Cola-Army, F2 Logistics and Foton in the next round for another round-robin to determine the placing for the semifinal seeding.