Alba, Lacsina, Soyud sparkle

MANILA, Philippines — Setter Mars Alba, back from her Alas Pilipinas tour of duty, didn’t need much time to reconnect with her old Akari teammates.

It was evident in the Chargers’ 25-22, 25-27, 22-25, 25-23, 15-12 victory over the Farm Fresh Foxies yesterday that bolstered their semifinal bid in the PVL All-Filipino Pulse Series at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Alba was all over the place, facilitating Akari’s relentless attack with 22 excellent sets while contributing in scoring with eight points and net defense with three blocks in leading her club to their second straight win against two defeats.

It was all about familiarity.

“Four games yung connection andun naman since one year ko na din sila nakakasama,” said the 27-year-old Marikina native. “Kailangan lang mag reconnect at mag refresh ng konti sa galaw ng team dahil matagal ko din sila hindi nakasama.”

Alba’s playmaking allowed Eli Soyud and Ivy Lacsina to go on attack mode.

Soyud scraped her way to a match-high 30 points including key hits in the final two sets while Lacsina uncorked 21 hits.

“Siyempre nagpapasalamat alo sa tiwalang binigay nila sa akin kaya yung sinabi nila paluin ko lang at huwag mag hesitate, ginawa ko naman,” said Soyud. “Walang nag da doubt, yun ang nakapag mo-motivate sa amin.”

Down a set after a flat start, Farm Fresh turned things around in the second set and ended up seizing the set and the next one to go 2-1 up.

But the Foxies slowed down and just couldn’t find a way to stop Soyud particularly in the fifth and deciding set where the latter totally took over.

The Foxies, who were led by Trisha Tubu’s 25 points, dropped to 2-2.