BACARRA, Ilocos Norte — Choco Mucho edged a gritty BaliPure side, 25-23, 23-25, 25-15, 25-21, to claim its fifth straight victory in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Open Conference on Friday at the PCV Socio-Civic and Cultural Center.
Choco Mucho vs BaliPure recap
Kat Tolentino was nearly unstoppable as she showed the way anew for the Flying Titans and denied the hard-fighting Water Defenders.
Ponggay Gaston played inspired in front of her father and the Games and Amusement Board consultant Fritz Gaston, who watched the game with Chairman Baham Mitra and Oliver Gan to ensure all the health and safety protocols are being followed inside the PVL bubble.
Tolentino tallied her conference-high with 25 points, nailing 23 kills and two service aces to keep the Flying Titans unscathed.
Bea De Leon had 10 points, while Gaston and Maddie Madayag added nine and eight markers, respectively.
Star libero Denden Lazaro-Revilla also shone with 31 digs and 10 excellent receptions, while setter Deanna Wong made 17 excellent sets on top of 16 digs and three markers.
“Alam mo naman Bali Pure since the tournament started, they’re so resilient. Yung hustle nila andun,” said Choco Mucho head coach Oliver Almadro.
“BaliPure played well, na-challenge kami and yun maganda sa mga players (ko) they accepted the challenge especially Kat and Denden.”
With both teams tied at one set apiece and Choco Mucho leading the third set, 11-8, a brief power outage stopped the game for 15 minutes.
When the court deemed playable, the Water Defenders committed three consecutive errors that allowed the Flying Titans to take a 15-8 advantage, never looking back to dominate the third set.
[ArticleReco:{"articles":["114629","114613","114621","114610"], "widget":"More from spin"}]
Graze Bombita led BaliPure with 15 points off 13 attacks and three aces. Gen Casugod had 10 markers, while Bern Flora added eight on top of 22 digs and 19 excellent receptions.
The Water Defenders suffered their second straight loss, dropping with 2-3 card tied in the fifth place with Black Mamba-Army.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
