P Smashers down Air Force, stay in hunt
Andrea Marzan (14) of the Power Smashers goes up for a kill off a feed by Vira Guillema (8) as Air Force’s Mae Antipuesto and Iari Yongco set up their defense during their PVL Reinforced Conference clash at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan. JOEY MENDOZA
MANILA, Philippines - The Power Smashers fended off the Air Force Jet Spikers’ fightback in the fourth and carved out a 25-23, 16-25, 25-20, 25-23 victory to stay in the hunt for an outright semifinal berth in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan last night.
The Power Smashers struggled trying to dispose of the Lady Jet Spikers in the fourth, blowing five-point leads, the last at 21-16, but pulled through in the end of the one-hour, 38-minute encounter.
Air Force tied the count twice, the last at 23 on an off-the-block hit by Iari Yongco. But she committed a miscue and Jovelyn Prado scored off a block as the Power Smashers finished off the Jet Spikers.
“I wasn’t satisfied with the way they played. They took it easy. It seemed like they took their opponent lightly so they relaxed. A lot of my instructions weren’t followed,” said Power Smashers head coach Nes Pamilar.
The victory was the Power Smashers’ fifth against four losses as they tied the Perlas Spikers at third, just behind the second running Pocari Sweat Lady Warriors as the battle for the top two slots heated up heading to tomorrow’s final elims playdate.
BaliPure, which was playing Creamline at presstime, is barely on top with a 6-2 mark.
The top two teams will gain outright semis entry while the other four will dispute the two other Final Four seats in a single round robin quarterfinal series minus their respective elims records.
Kannika Thipachot unloaded 23 points, Hyapha Amporn came through with 11 markers while Prado logged 10 hits for the Power Smashers.
Patcharee Saengmuang fired 21 points and Angel Antipuesto wound up with 11 markers for Air Force, which fell to 1-8.
Thipachot carried the Power Smashers in the opener that was close throughout, firing nine points, including the set-clinching hit. But the Jet Spikers struck back in the second, building a 15-9 gap which they stretched to a 25-16 edge to draw level.
The Power Smashers, however, came out strong in the third, breaking away at 14-6 and warding off their rivals’ repeated rallies.
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