BALI Pure made use of its familiarity with Bureau of Customs ace Alyssa Valdez to pull off a 26-24, 25-21, 25-21 win in the Shakey's V-League Reinforced Conference at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City on Wednesday.
American import Katherine Morrell made 17 points for the Purest Water Defenders, while Dzi Gervacio and Amy Ahomiro chipped in 10 markers apiece.
Coming from a four-set loss to University of Santo Tomas, Bali Pure bagged its first win with a game plan focused on limiting Valdez, said Bali Pure’s Charo Soriano.
“We were really preparing for her mainly because we know that her prowess in terms of attacks is really incredible, she’s a phenom for that reason,” said Soriano, a former teammate of Valdez.
“So we really worked on our defense a lot, then we worked on our counter attack more. We were telling ourselves if we stop Alyssa, it’s gonna be easier for us to get a win, although we need to still work hard as a team and I think it showed naman earlier,” she added.
Bali Pure’s ploy worked as Valdez was limited to 16 points, from 14 kills, after dropping a 39-point career-high game in their five-setter win over Laoag last week.
The Purest Water Defenders got all areas covered. Morelle had nine digs and 10 excellent receptions, while Sue Roces also registered seven digs to help libero Denden Lazaro, who had eight excellent receptions.
“We know her plays, we know how she hits so it’s easy for let’s say Denise Lazaro to take her up,” said Soriano. “And we really talked about it, if it’s Alyssa hitting outside, even the middle. She got a lot of points still but we were able to control her 39-point game.”
Thai guest player Kanjana Kuthaisong also had 16 markers for BoC.
The Open Conference third place team evened its record 1-1, while BoC dropped to 2-1 tied with Laoag.