RC Cola Air Force overcame Kristy Jaeckel’s 38 points, turning back Mane 'N Tail, 25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 25-22, on Friday to grab third spot in the Philippine Super Liga Grand Prix at the Cuneta Astrodome.
American imports Emily Brown and Bonita Wise scored 20 and 14 points, respectively, to help Air Force improve its win-loss record to 3-2 at the end of the first round of elimination.
Iari Yongco led the Raiders locals with 13 points in the match that took an hour and 49 minutes to finish.
Jaeckel was just two points shy of her league best 40 points, but that wasn’t enough to keep Mane ‘N Tail from suffering their third loss in four matches.
The Raiders gameplan was to try and stop Jaeckel, but coach Rhovyl Verayo admitted it’s easier said than done.
"It's all about Jaeckel," said Verayo. "Coming into this game 'yun ang mindset namin. Malakas kasi talaga siya, hindi talaga siya mapipigilan na-minimize lang namin siya."
"Medyo tumutok kami sa offense niya kaya ang ginawa namin pag sa service sa kanya namin dinadala ang bola para mahirapan siya umatake sa back row," he added.
Jaeckel is still the league's top scorer with 146 points in 17 sets played. Kaylee Manns had 44 of the Mane N Tail’s 53 excellent sets and chipped in with 12 points, but couldn’t get significant contributions from other team members.
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