Lady Warriors foil Water Defenders in 5

MANILA, Philippines — Pocari Sweat-Air Force teetered on the brink but pulled through in the end as it turned back young BaliPure-National University, 29-27, 20-25, 19-25, 26-24, 15-13, to move closer to the semifinals in the Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Reinforced Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan yesterday.

Myla Pablo completed the Lady Warriors’ comeback in the fourth set to force the decider where they sustained their charge while pouncing on the Water Defenders’ string of miscues to return on top of the heap at 3-1 after dropping a 19-25, 14-25, 22-25 setback to BanKo-Perlas last Saturday.

“Myla (Pablo) is a big factor. She is a superstar for me. She plays like an import. Good thing she stepped up in the fourth,” said Pocari coach Jasper Jimenez.

Pablo topscored with 22 points on 17 hits, four blocks and an ace, Madeline Palmer also finished with 17 attacks in her 21-point output and Arielle Love added 14 markers for Pocari Sweat-Air Force.

BanKo-Perlas survived a tough challenge by Iriga-Navy as it hacked out a 25-17, 23-25, 28-26, 22-25, 15-12 victory to zero in on the third semifinal seat later in the night.

The Spikers unleashed an 8-4 closing surge to cut loose from a tight battle in the fifth to stay unscathed in three games and remain on top of the leaderboard.