Macau Invitational next tourney for newly crowned Petron

MANILA, Philippines - The morning after dethroning F2 Logistics as the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino champion, Petron earned another honor – winning the right to represent the country in the Macau Invitational Women’s volleyball tournament in September.

“For winning the All-Filipino crown, it is only fitting that we tap Petron as our representative in the Macau tournament,” said PSL president Ramon Suzara, adding that the Macau tilt will also serve as part of Petron’s buildup for the Grand Prix.

The Macau tournament, to be held Sept. 23-25, features China, Hong Kong and the host country.

This will mark the first time that the Blaze Spikers will represent the country in a foreign competition after donning the national colors in the AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship in Vietnam in 2015.

“We are very confident that Petron will be very competitive based on how it fared in the finals series against F2 Logistics,” added Suzara.

But Petron’s journey to its third PSL title didn’t come easy. In fact, the Blaze Spikers needed to fight back from 1-2 set down in Game 2 and fend off F2 Logistics own fightback in the stretch to complete the sweep of their best-of-three series.

Despite boasting of a competitive squad led by MVP Aiza Pontillas, Frances Molina, Mika Reyes, Sisi Rondina, Bernadeth Pons, Remy Palma and Ria Meneses, the Blaze Spikers still struggled before pulling it off in the end.

They looked shaky in the preliminaries and even suffered a pair of setbacks to a veteran-laden Cignal side that relegated them to No. 3 in the quarterfinals.

Although they dominated Sta. Lucia Realty in the quarters and stunned top seed Foton in the semifinals, observers still felt the Cargo Movers had the chemistry, firepower and defense to retain the championship.

But the Blaze Spikers proved them all wrong.

They brimmed with confidence and crushed F2 Logistics in straight sets in Game 1, 25-23, 25-21, 25-19. Then they showed their ability to bounce back from back-to-back meltdowns in the second and third sets of Game 2 and foiled the Cargo Movers in a pressure-packed endgame of a five setter, 26-24, 24-26, 26-24, 23-25, 15-11. “Communication was the key to this victory,” said Petron head coach Shaq delos Santos.

“Every time we practiced, even the day before the game, we always talked and discussed everything. I’m not the only one who did the talking. Everybody contributed to the discussion. It gave us a very good result because we got an idea on how we think and what we are capable of doing,” he said.