Lifesavers bounce back, clobber Power Hitters

MANILA, Philippines — Generika-Ayala wasted no time bouncing back from a tough defeat, clobbering skidding PLDT Home Fibr, 27-25, 16-25, 25-18, 25-14, in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference Thursday night at the Muntinlupa Sports Center.

Coming off a three-set loss to reigning champion Petron earlier this week in Bacoor that snapped their four-game win streak, the vengeful Lifesavers just would not be denied in their rebound bid, ending their first-round campaign with a bang.

At 5-2, Generika is at third spot behind leaders F2 Logistics (7-0) and the Blaze Spikers (5-1) heading into the second round of this All-Filipino tourney.

After being silenced by Petron last outing, the troika of Angeli Araneta, Patty Orendain and Fiola Ceballos came back to life to lead Generika’s four-set conquest of PLDT.

Team captain Araneta piled up 15 points and 14 digs while Orendain and Ceballos chipped in 14 and 13 points respectively, after combining for just seven markers against the Blaze Spikers.

Ria Meneses added 13 points while Jamie Lavitoria had 14 excellent sets and libero Kath Arado contributed 25 digs much to the delight of head coach Sherwin Meneses.

“We’ve learned our lessons from last game. We started poor against Petron so we made sure to start strong this time against PLDT,” said Meneses. “I just told them to work hard every set and thankfully, we did. At least, we’re now back on track.”

Meanwhile, the first round comes to a close today with reigning champion Petron bidding for a fourth straight win against Sta. Lucia.

Led by skipper Ces Molina together with Mika Reyes, Aiza Manzo-Pontillas, Sisi Rondina and Bernadette Pons, the Blaze Spikers march into the 6 p.m. duel heavily favored especially coming from a three-set rout of the Lifesavers.