AIR Force copped its fifth straight win in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference, defeating BanKo, 26-24, 25-8, 25-21, on Sunday at The Arena in San Juan.
Joy Cases finished with 15 points for the Lady Jet Spikers, leveling their record after five straight losses to start the tournament.
Middle blocker Dell Palomata had 14 markers from 12 attacks and two blocks, while Mary Ann Pantino chipped in 13 points and 12 digs for Air Force.
“Tabla na, babawi kami five-five pero hindi kami hihinto, dire-diretso pa rin kami,” said Lady Jet Spikers coach Jasper Jimenez.
“Padayon lang, tuluy-tuloy lang. Ibig sabihin ng padayon, Air Force padayon, dahil ‘yung commanding general namin is bisaya, ibig sabihin ng padayon is tuluy-tuloy lang,” he added.
BanKo looked to take the opening set, 24-22, before Air Force scored four straight points to snatch the win.
The Lady Jet Spikers soared high in the second set, taking a commanding leads, 8-1, and, 16-5, en route to finish the set, 25-8, and sustained the momentum until the third set.
“Actually napag-aralan namin [ang BanKo]. Kasi noong natalo kami, mabagal sila, mas mabagal kami. So ngayon iniba namin ang game plan, binilisan namin. Naging effective naman,” said Jimenez.
Air Force setter Wendy Semana dished out 23 of the team’s excellent sets in the match that took an hour and 20 minutes to finish.
Dzi Gervacio made points for BanKo, which dropped to 6-4, tied with Pacific Town Army at the No. 3 spot.
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