Lady Realtors overcome Gyselle Silva’s 40-point explosion
MJ Philips (right) of Sta. Lucia Realty goes up for a hit against Sanja Trivunovic of Smart during their Philippine Superliga encounter at the Filoil Flying V Center.
MANILA, Philippines — Sta. Lucia Realty bucked Gyselle Silva’s 40-point effort as it pounded out a 25-15, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22 decision over Smart in the Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga Grand Prix at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan yesterday.
The Lady Realtors leaned on their superb blocking then pounced on the Giga Hitters’ shaky windup in the fourth to tie the Cignal HD Spikers at fourth at 3-3 heading to the final first round playdate of the tournament sponsored by Isuzu and UCPB Gen with ESPN5 as official broadcast partner.
Canadian import Bohdana Anisova produced 18 kills and four blocks to finish with 23 points while Fil-Am MJ Philips and Canadian Marisa Field chipped in 15 and 14 markers, respectively, for the Lady Realtors, who fought back from a 17-19 deficit in the fourth en route to victory.
The Lady Realtors also finished with 11 blocks, seven more than their rivals while scoring nine aces against the Giga Hitters’ three.
Silva tried to rally Smart after falling 0-2 set down but the Cuban ace and the Giga Hitters lost steam and tumbled to their seventh straight loss.
Silva’s output fell just a point shy of matching the league’s standing scoring mark set by Sara Klisura when she powered Foton to a five-set conquest of F2 Logistics in the Grand Prix last year.
Prior to this big offensive performance, Silva’s best scoring output was 33 points, which she tallied in her debut game against Cocolife and Cignal, respectively.
“We tried our best to stop her in the first and second sets. But in the third and fourth sets, she’s simply unstoppable,” said Sta. Lucia coach George Pascua.
“I told the team that we should grab the lead at least before Silva rotates in front. I’m glad that we were able to do that and Dana (Anisova) connected a lucky ace for the win.”
Field, who is one of the league’s best blockers agreed.
“It was good in the first two and a half sets and then we kind of let up so that allowed Silva and Smart to take a chance and come back to win that third set,” she said.
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