Blaze Spikers to stay focused one game at a time

MANILA, Philippines — Petron chalked up another milestone in its storied stint in the Philippine Superliga – sweeping the 14-game eliminations of the 2019 Grand Prix – but the Blaze Spikers are far from being satisfied.

“We need to step up some more. Okay we’re winning but we need to play well consistently as there are times we’re stuggling either in the end game or the start of the set and improve some more,” said Petron coach Shaq delos Santos after their 25-14, 25-17, 25-19 sweep of United VC Saturday night at Filoil Flying V Center.

The multi-titled coach, whose wards gave the franchise its third perfect record in the preliminaries after 10-0 marks in the elims of he 2015 and 2018 All-Filipino Conference, stand five wins away from completing an unbeaten title repeat in the import-flavored conference.

They’re set to face the eighth-ranked squad, either Sta. Lucia or Foton, in the quarterfinals, aiming to pounce on their twice-to-beat advantage to advance to the best-of-three semis, then sustain the charge all the way to the coveted title. Sta. Lucia and Foton were playing at presstime.  

“We have to stay focused on each game because this is a different ballgame; the elims are over and every match is so important now. We know we have to keep working hard and prepare for our opponents,” said Delos Santos, whose wards had dropped only one set the entire elims.

Delos Santos intends to make the most of Petron’s weeklong break before the next round.

“We played our third game this week so recovery is important before the quarterfinals. Thankfully, we’ll have one week to recover and prepare,” said Delos Santos.