POCARI Sweat recovered from a late-game wobble to hold off an Alyssa Valdez-led Bureau of Customs and complete a sweep in the Shakey’s V-League Reinforced Conference finals.
American import Bre Mackie stood at the forefront of a 25-14, 25-10, 22-25, 25-23 victory that gave the Lady Warriors their second straight championship in their first season in the 13-year old league.
Mackie finished with 23 points, anchored on 21 kills, while Andrea Kacsits and skipper Michele Gumabao added 14 each and Myla Pablo chipped in 13 as Pocari took the best-of-three series in two games.
"Syempre very happy kami, we've accomplished what we came here for which is to win the Reinforced Conference (title)," said Pocari Sweat coach Rommel Abella.
After two lopsided sets, BoC came back to life in the third set to avert a shutout and still looked in control, 10-8, in the early stages of the fourth set.
Alyssa Valdez kept the Transformers in the thick of the fight, 20-20, before Rose Vargas' error and Desiree Dadang's service ace sealed the win for the Lady Warriors.
"We relaxed (sa third set). Syempre down na ang BoC so akala nila (Lady Warriors) ibibigay na lang ng BoC basta-basta so I just told them the third set is over we need to get back and double the effort," said Abella.
"Going into the fourth set I told them just relax, take a deep breath and enjoy the game," he added.
The Lady Warriors, whose only loss came in a five-set match against Philippine Air Force at the start of the tournament, finished the conference on a 10-game winning run.
Dadang made an impressive job at the net with five of the team's 10 blocks.
Thai import Kanjana Kuthaisong's 32 points went down the drain as BoC settled for a runner up finish. Conference MVP Valdez, who could not contain her emotions and broke down, was limited to just 10 points.