FARM Fresh fired a fierce five-set fightback and denied Capital1 its second win, 18-25, 21-25, 26-24, 25-18, 15-12, in the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference on Tuesday at the Philsports Arena.
Rachel Daquis churned in a vintage performance as she willed the Foxies back to victory with a 19-point, 13-dig double-double.
Down two sets to none, Farm Fresh’s comeback bid was almost foiled early as a gutsy Capital1 chased down an 8-17 third-set deficit — only to be denied by Alyssa Bertolano.
That allowed Daquis to lead the Foxies' spirited fight back. .
The Foxies, despite the absence of leading scorer Trisha Tubu with back spasms, ended the prelims play with a 5-6 record.
Its final placement for the qualifying round still hangs in the balance as a tight mid-table logjam among Farm Fresh, Akari, Chery Tiggo, ZUS Coffee will be settled over the final week of the preliminaries.
With one win in 11 matches, Capital1 can still finish as high as 10th place depending on whether it can hold a superior quotient over Galeries Tower (1-9) and Nxled (1-9) when they take on league leaders Creamline and Petro Gazz, respectively, on Thursday.
A joint 31-point output from Heather Guino-o and rookie Leila Cruz, along with Roma Doromal's strong 26-dig, 22-reception double-double, paced the Solar Spikers' seventh straight loss.
Foxies capitalize
While the Farm Fresh's resilience is a vivid indicator of the young team's fortitude, Daquis knows there's more to the Foxies than just being able to overcome deficits.
It is progress, however, in the eyes of the 37-year-old veteran spiker. But that progress isn't indicative just yet that the Foxies are already where they want to be.
"Kulang pa talaga kasi kung okay kami, hindi kami aabot ng fifth set eh, so una palang babanat na kami. Kulang pa pero may progress. ‘Yun naman importante eh, ‘yung paangat kami one step at a time," Daquis said.
"Happy kami sa result nito kahit fifth set pero dito nasubukan ‘yung character eh. Hindi na ‘yung panalo, mas kailangan namin ma-build ‘yung character kasi ang talent nakay Farm Fresh na. Magagaling talaga sila, ang kailangan dito ‘yung lumalaban hanggang dulo, so good win para samin ito na talagang hindi bumitaw lahat."
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