Water Defenders survive Red Spikers, revive hopes

MANILA, Philippines — BaliPure kept its poise in the face of Chef’s Classic’s gutsy stand, pulling off a tough 25-22, 20-25, 27-25, 25-22 victory to revive its hopes in the Premier Volleyball League Season 3 Open Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan last night.

Dragged into a fierce battle by the surprisingly tough Red Spikers in all four sets, the Water Defenders toughened up at endgame of the last two frames to thwart their young rivals and post their second victory against three losses in the season-ending conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.

“We just hung tough out there and did what our coach told us,” said Menchie Tubiera, who led BaliPure with 18 hits, including 16 attack points, to clinch the best player of the game honors. “We never gave up since we really needed this win badly.”

Though they remained at seventh in the nine-team field, the victory gave the Water Defenders some semblance of hope following a winless campaign in the recent Reinforced Conference.

BaliPure, which broke a 12-game spell with a five-set escape win over Air Force last Aug. 21, moved within striking distance of fifth-running Choco Mucho and PetroGazz (2-2) with the Water Defenders hoping to bring some kind of momentum to their next game against the BanKo-Perlas Spikers (4-2) on Wednesday.

“We still need to further raise the level of our game. But we will always be there fighting,” added Tubiera, who spiked her superb showing with 19 excellent digs.

Just when they thought they would have a trouble-free game against the Red Spikers, one of the two newcomers in the league, the other being the Choco Mucho Flying Titans, after a cruise in the opening frame, the Water Defenders stumbled as the Red Spikers mounted a mighty comeback in the second set to draw level.

Chef’s Classic actually blew a match point in the third on a couple of miscues, enabling BaliPure to snare the pivotal third then the Water Defenders drew clutch hits from their veterans and showed their composure in the clutch to frustrate the Red Spikers.

Chef’s Classic fell to 0-5.

Meanwhile, Motolite sets out for a fourth straight victory as it tackles PacificTown Army while PetroGazz shoots for a third win in five games against winless Air Force at the resumption of weekend action today at the San Juan venue.

The Power Builders are on a three-game roll after dropping a straight-set loss to powerhouse Creamline Cool Smashers last Aug. 14 but Myla Pablo and company will have to toughen up against a team raring to rebound from a shutout loss that likewise snapped its back-to-back win romp.

The Lady Troopers swept their first two games but got swept in reverse by the Angels last Wednesday, making their 4 p.m. match with the Power Builders a test of character for one of the league’s veteran-laden teams.