Blaze Spikers get scare from HD Spikers

MANILA, Philippines — Vengeful Petron dealt Cignal its first loss after a nerve-wracking five-set win, 25-20, 18-25, 25-16, 16-25, 16-14, in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference yesterday at the Muntinlupa Sports Center.

Still licking the wounds of their tough four-set loss against bitter rival F2 two days ago, the reigning champion Blaze Spikers found themselves in trouble anew with a 12-14 match point deficit in the deciding fifth set.

But then came out Petron’s championship pedigree as team skipper Ces Molina spearheaded the squad’s emphatic 4-0 closeout to cap off an epic 16-14 escape act.

Molina finished with a game-high 25 points on 21 kills to lead the way for the Blaze Spikers who quickly atoned for their stinging defeat to the Cargo Movers (4-0) and hiked their mark to 3-1 for solo second place.

Veteran Aiza Manzo-Pontillas also stepped up big time with 11 points on top of 24 digs and 11 excellent receptions while Toni Rose Basas also contributed 10 markers to help Molina save Petron from absorbing a rare second straight defeat.

“Coming off a loss is just as hard and we can’t afford to lose back-to-back games if we want to build momentum early on the conference,” said coach Shaq Delos Santos as Petron nearly wasted a 2-1 set lead before unleashing a strong fifth set kick.

“It was a hard-earned win for us today, Cignal pushed us to the limit. But I’m happy that my team held on tight and didn’t crumble.”

On the other hand, team captain Rachel Anne Daquis had her 17 markers wasted in a tough Cignal loss against the reigning champion.

The HD Spikers suffered their first loss to fall to 2-1.

For a while, it seemed the Blaze Spikers were on their way to a second consecutive defeat, and would have left a few questions hanging over their title-retention campaign.

But Delos Santos’ wards came through when needed most, and held their ground when the HD Spikers went for the kill.