Unable to finish off the Choco Mucho in three or four, PetroGazz used its superb blocking in the decider to finally clip the Flying Titans as the Angels carved out a 25-22, 25-15, 19-25, 20-25, 15-3 victory to enhance their drive in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan yesterday.
The Angels took the first four points off kill blocks, including three on Choco Mucho top hitter Kat Tolentino, in the fifth set and went to dominate their young rivals to turn what had appeared to be a down-to-the-wire finish into an anti-climactic ending.
Thanks to Jeanette Panaga, Cai Baloaloa, Cherry Nunag Paneng Mercado, Jovielyn Prado, who manned the net in the decider with authority, foiling Tolentino’s hit one after the other and racking up the next four points to go 8-0 on a Jonah Sabete left-handed hit at changeover.
The Flying Titans broke that spell not on their merit but on a Prade service miscue and the recently-crowned Reinforced Conference champions took seven of the next nine points to wrap it all up.
The victory extended PetroGazz win run to three for an overall 4-2 card in a tie with idle BanKo-Perlas while dealing Choco Mucho its third straight defeat after going 2-1 in its first three matches in its debut stint in the league organized by Sports Vision.
Five Angels finished in double figures with setter Djanel Cheng anchoring PetroGazz’s balanced scoring that saw Sabete finish with 15 markers with all but one coming off attacks.
Nunag had 14 markers, Prado and Baloaloa finished with 11 points each while Panaga came through with six kill blocks for a 10-hit game.
Despite her fifth set struggle, Tolentino wound up with 24 points, including 21 attacks, while Maddie Madayag added 11 markers for the Flying Titans, who continued to miss the services of UAAP Finals MVP Bea de Leon.
