Pocari survives BaliPure in thriller, nears semis
Pushed against the wall by a young foe, Pocari Sweat-PAF fought back with a kind of game worthy of a defending champion on Wednesday night to secure at least a playoff for the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference semifinals.
The Lady Warriors played catch-up for most of the match before turning back BaliPure-NU in a thriller, 29-27, 20-25, 19-25, 26-24, 15-13 at FilOil Flying V Centre.
“As a setter you have to display patience especially when the team is having a hard time receiving,” Pocari setter Wendy Semana said in Filipino. She had 42 excellent sets for the Lady Warriors.
It was the third win in four quarterfinal matches for Pocari, which needs just one more to advance to the semis outright.
It certainly wasn’t easy for the squad which had a major revamp after winning three consecutive conference titles.
“We just showed our experience and hard work,” added Semana as Pocari handed BaliPure a second straight defeat in a 1-2 card.
The youthful Water Defenders displayed so much spunk despite losing the fourth frame as the stalwarts from National University kept the fifth set close and even knotted it all up at 13.
But unforced errors did the Water Defenders in, the last of their nine in the fifth set—which came via a long spike by 15-year-old sensation Mhicaela Belen—giving Pocari match point.
Madeline Palmer came up with the win-sealing kill for Pocari and finished with 15 points, the same output of Myla Pablo.
Janisa Johnson unloaded 30 points, while Alexis Matthews added 17 for BaliPure, which also got 10 points each from Belen and Roselyn Doria.
Meanwhile, Air Force booked the last semifinals berth in the men’s division after a 25-19, 25-19, 17-25, 25-22 victory over Instituto Estetico earlier.
The Jet Spikers rose to 2-0 and kept the Volley Masters winless.
