Cagayan spikers sweep elims
CAGAYAN Province battled back from an early deficit in the deciding set to hack out a 25-20, 20-25, 19-25, 25-18, 15-9 victory over Philippine Army last night and complete a sweep of the classification phase of the Shakey’s V-League Season 10 Open Conference at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
The Rising Suns brandished more firepower in the end with Kannika Thipachot and Angeli Tabaquero coming through with decisive hits as they survived a tough fifth set, where they trailed early at 4-6.
Thipachot buried a back-row attack and converted a couple of spikes as the Rising Suns turned a 6-7 deficit to a 10-7 lead before a big, boisterous Sunday crowd.
Aiza Maizo put the finishing touches with a smash that put the Rising Suns at match point, 14-9, before Cagayan wrapped up a 12th straight win in an hour and 53 minutes.
Facing Cagayan in the best-of-three semifinals will be Air Force, which drubbed already-eliminated Philippine National Police, 25-16, 25-22, 14-25, 25-17.
Joy Cases fired 24 points with 22 coming from attacks, while Caballejo finished with 17 hits for the Air Women, who recovered after a lethargic third set.
The Lady Patrollers seemed poised to send the match into a fifth set when they came close at 17-18 in the fourth set, before Cases and Caballejo turned in key hits to restore order for the Air Women.
The other best-of-three semifinal series pits Army and Smart Maynilad, which was playing Meralco at presstime.
Thipachot pumped in 24 hits while Maizo added 17 points for Cagayan. Tabaquero still finished with 17 hits, despite what coach Nes Pamilar described as a below-par performance from her.
“We were still lucky even if Ange (Tabaquero) and (libero Jheck) Dionela were not playing well,” said Pamilar.
“We need to exert extra effort. We can’t relax. Our record won’t mean anything if we lose in the semifinals,” said Pamilar.
Rachel Daquis wound up with 20 hits, including two blocks, while Jovelyn Gonzaga added 15 points, including three service aces, and had 10 digs for the Lady Troopers.
