PETRON defeated Sta. Lucia, 27-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-14, for its second straight win in the Philippine Super Liga Grand Prix on Thursday at The Arena in San Juan.
American imports Lindsay Stalzer and Hillary Hurley showed the way anew as the Blaze Spikers took the early lead in the nine-team tournament.
Stalzer had a game-high 29 points on top of nine excellent receptions for Petron, while Hurley chipped in 27 markers, 10 digs and 10 excellent receptions.
“Sa amin good thing lang na naka-survive kami kahit na honestly speaking, hindi ‘yun ang gusto naming makita,” said Petron coach Shaq Delos Santos. “Pero good thing, nako-control namin and nanalo pa rin kami.”
Petron looked to finish the match after leading Sta. Lucia, 22-20, in the third set before the Lady Realtors countered with five straight points capped by back-to-back blocks by Canadian national team member Marisa Field to extend the contest.
“(Sa third set) I think ‘yung mga lapses No. 1 ay ‘yung service saka ‘yung receive. ‘Yun talaga kapag wala kaming receive,” said Delos Santos. “Saka kasi ‘yung blocking nila (Sta. Lucia) solid, ang gaganda and ang lalaki rin ng mga imports nila.”
Mika Reyes also had 11 markers for Petron, which totaled 70 attack points in a match that took two hours and 11 minutes to finish.
Ukranian import Bohdana Anisova saw action after missing Sta. Lucia’s first match but the Lady Realtors remained winless.
Anisova, who arrived Tuesday night, debuted with 17 points, while Field added 14, Mar-Jana Philips had 13 and Rialen Sante contributed 11.
Sta. Lucia dropped to 0-2.