F2 Logistics, Petron go for one grand kill

MANILA, Philippines — The Chooks-to-Go Philippine Superliga Final comes down to a deciding match today with F2 Logistics seeking to ride the momentum of its big Game 2 win and nail the elusive Grand Prix title and Petron hoping to bank on its experience and reclaim the crown.

Gametime is at 4 p.m. at the MOA Arena with the Cargo Movers looking sharp and ready following a 25-20, 24-26, 14-25, 25-19, 15-4 victory late Thursday that sent their best-of-three series to a winner-take-all match.

“We finally got a taste of victory so I guess momentum is on our side,” said F2 Logistics coach Ramil de Jesus. “Hopefully we’ll be able to sustain it.”

But the Blaze Spikers have vowed to come out better and stronger from that Game 2 setback, guaranteeing a fierce showdown for the hotly disputed crown in the league’s season-ending conference. 

“We just need to accept what happened so that we could learn from it,” said Petron mentor Shaq delos Santos. “The series is not yet over, it just got better. I am sure we will be able to overcome this,” said Delos Santos, whose wards romped off with an emphatic 25-14, 25-21, 25-16 victory in Game One.

Though they dropped the opening frame in the second game, the Blaze Spikers, seeking to reclaim the crown they won three years ago, took the next two but faltered in the fourth and got completely outplayed by the Cargo Movers in the fifth.

“Maybe we celebrated early (in the fourth set) because anyone in that situation would definitely enjoy it. We relaxed. But it was a lesson learned for us. We should start strong and finish strong,” said Delos Santos.

Down 0-9 in the fourth set, the Cargo Movers went to Venezuelan Maria Jose Perez, Kennedy Bryan, Aby Maraño and skipper Cha Cruz to mount the huge comeback and force the deciding fifth set which they dominated to move closer to capturing their first Grand Prix trophy after winning the 2016 All Filipino crown.

Meanwhile, American Lindsay Stalzer, a former MVP, and fellow American Hillary Hurley are expected to raise the level of their game in this do-or-die while hoping to draw more solid contributions from Ces Molina, Mika Reyes, Remy Palma and Aiza Maizo-Pontillas.