UVC rallies past Sta Lucia; Petron, F2 Logis

MANILA, Philippines — With Kalei Mau delivering a monster performance in the deciding set, United Volleyball Club hammered out an epic 12-25, 15-25, 25-17, 25-22, 15-9 victory over lead-gunning Sta. Lucia last night in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix at Filoil Flying V Center.

Mau punched in the team’s last seven points in the fifth, lifting UVC’s fightback from a 0-2 deficit and helping it bounce back from its opening-day loss to Foton while catching up with its victim at 1-1.

Earlier, Petron unleashed the powerhouse import pair of Katherine Bell and Stephanie Niemer in cruising past PLDT Home Fibr, 25-19, 25-9, 25-10, to get its title redention bid off to a blazing start.  

In the third game, F2 Logistics, playing with just one import, prevailed over Cignal HD, 26-24, 21-25, 25-21, 25-14, and joined Foton and Petron atop the standings at 1-0.

Foreign reinforcement Becky Perry took scoring cudgels with 17 attacks and three blocks  while Mich Morente added 15 markers as the Cargo Movers picked up the win even with prized import Lindsay Stalzer skipping this one as she’s still fulfilling her commitment with her club in Indonesia. 

Mau finished with 22 markers along with 15 digs and eight excellent receptions to share scoring honors with Yasmeen Bedart-Ghani

“We weren’t playing our game in the first two sets, committed a lot of errors. When our backs are against the wall, there’s one thing we need to do – fight back – and that’s what we did,” said Ghani.

Mau and Ghani made the most damage in the third and fourth as UVC recovered from a sloppy start and seized cushions of 21-15 and 22-16, respectively. In the fifth, Mau simply took over, dropping five straight hits and a block point to put them on the hill from an 8-8 standoff. A service error by Marge Tejada gave Sta. Lucia a life-line but the Fil-Hawaiian iced the result with an off-the-block hit the next play.

Casey Schoenlein and Molly Lohman accounted for 19 and 17, respectively, for SLR, which failed to notch back-to-back wins and the solo lead.

Meanwhile, Bell came through with 15 points plus 10 digs.