Lady Troopers secure third semis slot; BaliPure import says sorry for hitting teammate

MANILA, Philippines — PacificTown Army turned an expected fierce duel for third with BanKo-Perlas into a virtual workout, scoring a lopsided 25-18, 25-14, 25-20 victory to secure the No. 3 spot in the Final Four of the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan yesterday.

Olena Lymareva-Flink of Ukraine closed out her performance the way she started it – in fiery fashion, blasting in a kill to wrap up the 69-minute romp that formalized the Lady Troopers’ claim on the third semis seat with a 5-5 card.

BanKo-Perlas wound up with a 4-6 for fourth but will need to wait for the result of the Motolite-PetroGazz clash being played at presstime time to determine whether the Perlas Spikers would officially nail the last Final Four seat or go through a playoff.

With the 3-5 mark, the Motolite Power Builders must hurdle the Angels to force a sudden death for the coveted fourth spot.

Creamline scored an expected 25-19, 25-15, 25-18 victory over BaliPure later in the day to cap its nine-game run following an opening game loss to PetroGazz and finish the elims with a 9-1 card.

Ace setter Jia Morado failed to suit up with a shoulder injury but Kyle Negrito filled up the slack by coming through with 17 excellent sets and the rest played just good enough to get past the Water Defenders, who closed out their stint without a win in 10 games.

Creamline is still awaiting the result of the PetroGazz-Motolite game at presstime to determine its seeding in the Final Four which fires off Wednesday.

In case Motolite wins, the playoff with BanKo-Perlas will be held at 4 p.m. today, also in San Juan.

As No. 3, PacificTown will face the No. 2 team in the semis, a best-of-three affair, beginning Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a hitting incident involving BaliPure import Danijela Djakovc of Montenegro and teammate Jewelle Bermillo marred the Creamline-BalIPure match as the local libero bore the brunt of their reinforcement’s frustration in the end of the first set.

As Creamline’s Jema Galanza poised to wrap up the frame at 24-19 with an off-speed hit, Bermillo and Djakovic both went for the dig, resulting to their collision. In frustration of failing the keep the ball in play and losing the set, Djakovic hit Bermillo on the nape.

Shocked, Bermillo was reduced to tears as her contact lens also fell from the impact of the strike.

Djakovic immediately apologized and said her emotions got the best of her that even she, herself, was surprised with what she did.

“I said I’m sorry. I’m so close to her and I love her. I just hugged her since I cannot explain this,” said Djakovic. “I was not able to control my emotions.”

“I have been playing volleyball for 16 years but this is the first time that it happened. I cannot believe it. I’m shocked,” she added.

Bermillo accepted Djakovic’s apology and said she was really shocked for what had happened.

“Miscommunication. Parehas kaming nag-mine tapos parehas namin in-attempt yung bola,” said Bermillo. “Nag-apologize naman siya, sabi niya nadala lang siya sa emosyon niya.

“Sobrang nagulat ako. Tinawanan ko po pero hindi ko napigilan sobrang sakit pero okay lang part ng game,” she added.

BaliPure coach Rommel Abella said that he understood that the uncalled-for strike was done in the heat of the moment but didn’t hide his disappointment over his import.

BaliPure and the organizing Sports Vision were meeting late last night as to what action or sanctions to be imposed on the erring Montenegrin national who, with fellow import Alexandra Vajdova, had failed to help the team post even a single win in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference.