Lady Troopers, Cool Smashers triumph

MANILA, Philippines — PacificTown Army flashed some kind of resiliency, bouncing back from a sorry setback the last time out with a 25-21, 25-20, 25-21 romp over BaliPure yesterday to firm up its hold of third spot in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan yesterday.

The Lady Troopers unloaded 42 attack points, including 13 from Ukrainian import Lena Lymareva-Flink, to overpower the Water Defenders although the former needed to overcome their gutsy rivals in the third to complete the straight-set triumph.

It was PacificTown Army’s fourth win against three defeats as it stayed behind unbeaten PetroGazz (7-0) and defending champion Creamline (5-1) heading to the last six playdates of the double round robin elims.

Later, Creamline primed up for its keenly awaited rematch with unbeaten PetroGazz, overcoming Motolite’s strong start in all three sets and scoring a 25-15, 25-20, 25-23 victory while spoiling local ace Myla Pablo’s return.

Jia Morado put up a 26-excellent set effort while imports Kuttika Kaewpin and Aleoscar Blanco and locals Alyssa Valdez and Risa Sato took charge offensively as the Cool Smashers formalized entry in postseason play with a 6-1 slate.

Pablo finally showed up after missing Motolite’s first six games due to a lower back injury but struggled.