Petro Gazz eyes 'Lucky 9,' playoff berth vs Motolite

Games Wednesday
4 p.m. – Petro Gazz vs Motolite
6 p.m. – BanKo-Perlas vs Choco Mucho

MANILA, Philippines – Streaking Petro Gazz primes up for its keenly awaited rematch with unbeaten Creamline this weekend as it takes on a skidding Motolite Wednesday looking for a ninth straight win and a playoff for at least the last semifinal seat in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.

Unlike in its come-from-behind five-set win over the PacificTown Army in Iloilo last Saturday that kept its win run going, however, Petro Gazz hopes to recall its fierce, dominate early and duplicate its three-set triumph over Motolite in their first round clash last September 8.

Gametime is at 4 p.m.

After a string of 3-0 romps that spiked the second longest streak thus far in the season-ending conference of the league organized by Sports Vision, the Angels faced their biggest challenge against the Lady Troopers. But after falling 1-2 set down, the reigning Reinforced Conference champions kept their poise and showed their big fighting heart to frustrate the veteran-laden Army side by winning the last two sets in emphatic fashions.

That also kept Petro Gazz’s hold of second place at 9-12 behind first semifinalist Creamline (12-0) with five teams — BanKo-Perlas (8-5), Motolite (7-5), PacificTown-Army (6-6), Choco Mucho (6-7) and Air Force (5-7) — still in hot pursuit for the last two seats in post-season play.

But Motolite is also in dire need of a win, itching to bounce back from lopsided losses to BanKo-Perlas and Choco Mucho that hampered its semifinal drive while enabling three teams to stay in the hunt.

BanKo-Perlas also seeks to firm up its semis bid as it faces Choco Mucho at 6 p.m. with the former also gunning for a ninth victory in 14 games and the latter going all-out to keep its slim hopes alive.

The Perlas Spikers dominated the Flying Titans in three sets last Aug. 28 but the latter are going flat out behind their tall frontline and young, hungry crew to, like the Lady Troopers and the Jet Spikers, force a playoff for the last semis slot.