Mandaue belles draw first blood
CEBU, Philippines — The spirited Mandaue City volleybelles crushed Catmon in straight sets to draw first blood in their best-of-three North division finals series in the 2018 Governor's Cup Inter-Cities and Municipalities Under-18 Developmental Volleyball Tournament on Thursday night at the Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex.
In the opening set, Mandaue went through some scary moments before squeezing out a 25-23 win.
Mandaue raced to a 9-2 start but Catmon, behind the leadership of their skipper Justine Therese Bragat, fought back with savvy to forge a 23-all deadlock.
The hosts though quickly regained their poise and rattled two straight points to hold off Catmon, thanks to a service ace by Trista Castro and a crisp attack by their team captain Sheila Mae Kiseo.
Catmon continued to chase Mandaue in the second set, but the home team again managed to scrape though a thrilling 25-22 win.
In the third set, Kiseo joined hands with Kirsten Chanel Petancio and Jolly Velasquez as Mandaue went for the kill, 25-19.
"Naninguha gyud mi nga walay mahimong fourth set ug paninguhaon gihapon namo nga sa sunod, third set ra gihapon kutob," said Mandaue coach Jerry Perdiguez.
Mandaue could practically wrap up the division title if they score a repeat but they must brace for one big war as they travel to Catmon for Game 2 at 7:00 tonight at the Catmon municipal gym.
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