ZUS Coffee had to dig deep to keep its unbeaten record, pulling off a 23–25, 22–25, 25–23, 25-12, 15-7 reverse sweep of Akari in the 2025 PVL Reinforced Conference on Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Anna DeBeer’s dominance was on display yet again with her third 30-piece of the conference — the most by any player so far. The youngest among the 12 imports at 24 poured in 33 points to cap the five-set comeback.
The American winger came to life in the fifth set where she breached the 30-point mark and took over in ZUS Coffee's early 8-1 blitz.
But before the match could even reach sudden death, DeBeer already keyed a dominant fourth-set getaway where they even built a 14-point cushion, 21-7.
The Thunderbelles' five-set victory over Akari replicated the outcome of their discarded import-less conference opener in Montalban last month where they also rallied from a two-sets-to-one deficit.
"Adjust-adjust lang, execute lang tayo ng mga basic plays [lalo na nu'ng dulo] kaya ayun, nakuha ['yung panalo]," said ZUS Coffee head coach Jerry Yee.
Jovelyn Gonzaga churned out an 11-point, 13-dig, 13-reception triple-double to back rookie middle blocker Riza Nogales, who also had 11 markers capped by four clutch blocks.
Setter-slash-captain Cloanne Mondonedo steadied a turbulent Thunderbelles side from an early 0-2 set hole with 27 excellent sets and four points.
The first group stage concludes with the Thunderbelles the only unbeaten team after extending their franchise-best start to five straight wins.
A league-best 5-0 record will draw ZUS Coffee with the bottom three teams of Pool A for a chance to seal their third playoff appearance in their one-year franchise history.
Spark lost late
DeBeer's compatriot Annie Mitchem had 27 points and 17 receptions that went to waste as Akari couldn't sustain its two-set lead.
Eli Soyud's 15-piece, backed by a near triple-double from Grethcel Soltones with 11 points, 17 receptions and nine digs, were huge contributions that lost their weight in the last three sets.
Ced Domingo also put up 11 points with two blocks.
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