ANTIPOLO — With its title hopes in peril, Petro Gazz survived.
The Angels staved off upset-conscious ZUS Coffee, 25-19, 25-13, 28-26, in Game Two of the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference quarterfinals on Saturday at the Ynares Center.
It took three match points for Brooke Van Sickle and the returning Jonah Sabete to put the Thunderbelles away following an overreaching violation from the black shirts.
Petro Gazz closed out the first frame on a 6-1 run and went on to seize full control with a 9-4 blitz to win Set 2 and hold ZUS Coffee at bay to dodge its first elimination scare.
In that second-set shutout, Petro Gazz did not commit a single error after misfiring 10 times in the opening frame which it still won.
READ: PVL TAKEAWAYS: ZUS Coffee dream run too good to be true?
With survival in mind, the Angels made sure not to be struck by the same upset-conscious challenger in back-to-back playoff games.
BVS dropped 17 markers and eight digs behind a trifecta of 11-point outings from Sabete, Myla Pablo and MJ Phillips.
"As an athlete, this is where we wanna be, this is where we wanna play, high-strung matches. Super cheesy but diamonds are made under pressure. That's how good teams in the PVL, that's how they're able to handle pressure, be calm, be lethal, and accept the challenge," Van Sickle said.
"That's what I'm challenging the team next game to just stay cool, calm and collected."
Angels not out of the woods yet
The two-time PVL champions also averted the infamy of getting swept in what might just be the biggest playoffs upset in the league’s eight-year history — at least for now.
While the Thunderbelles’ first crack at an unlikely semifinals berth fell flat, they still have one last chance to become the lowest-seeded team in seven years to reach the Final Four in Tuesday’s rubber match.
In the loss, only Chinnie Arroyo hit double figures with 10 points while Jovelyn Gonzaga was held to just seven.
A hungrier than ever Petro Gazz side has its sights set on winning another do-or-die game to barge into the semis for only the second time in the last five conferences.
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