Petro, Choco in quarterfinals

MANILA, Philippines — Second seed Petro Gazz played true to form and quashed the ambush bid of No. 11 Capital1, 25-19, 25-23, 25-21, to soar to the PVL All-Filipino Conference quarterfinals yesterday at the PhilSports Arena.

The high-flying Angels showed why they’re the league’s hottest team, landing crisp hits and frustrating the Solar Spikers with their solid net defense en route to the shutout win in the qualifying round that has extended their standing win streak to 10 games since November.

Brooke Van Sickle, with 19 points built around 15 attacks, two blocks and two aces, and Myla Pablo, with 17 markers, spearheaded the charge.

Later in the night, No. 5 Choco Mucho joined the march to the quarterfinals with a 25-22, 25-22, 25-23 blanking of eighth-ranked Chery Tiggo.

Also in the quarterfinals are giant-killing Galeries Tower and title holder Creamline.

“Hindi kami pwedeng mag-relax this game kasi wala ring kwenta ‘yung mga winning streak and top two (seeding) kapag matalo kami this qualifying round,” said Pablo.

The Solar Spikers gave stiff resistance especially in the first two sets and even held an 18-16 cushion in the second.

With the loss, Capital1 was relegated to the Play-in phase alongside fellow qualifying round losers Cignal and Nxled. The third-ranked HD Spikers found themselves in the single round-robin Play-in after bowing to lowly Galeries Tower last Thursday, 25-17, 25-22, 19-25, 25-19.

“In a way it’s a wakeup call, a reminder that it’s anyone’s game,” said Van Sickle.