WITH Rachel Daquis and Jovelyn Gonzaga leading the charge, TMS-Philippine Army gunned down Cignal, 25-14, 22-25, 25-17, 25-20, yesterday to capture the Philippine Super Liga Women’s Volleyball Grand Prix at Ynares Arena in Pasig.
It was the second straight title for the Lady Troopers who prevailed in the inaugural conference three months ago, also against the HD Spikers.
Earlier, PLDT MyDSL averted an epic collapse to down hard-fighting Systema, 28-26, 25-16, 20-25, 22-25, 16-14, and become the first men’s division champion.
Army, brandishing a reinforced lineup, was in its usual sharp form in the first set against Cignal which can’t seem to get going.
But Cignal took advantage of a relaxed Army stand to tie the match at one set each. That was enough to wake Army up and, with Daquis and Gonzaga firing at will, easily took the third.
The lefty, broad-shouldered Gonzaga soared and smashed her way past Cignal’s defense en route to scoring eight points. Daquis provided the artillery in the left wing and delivered 16 points, 14 on kills.
Army also drew 17 points from Thai spiker Wanitchaya Luangtonglang and Japanese libero Yuki Murakoshi.
In men’s action, PLDT fell into complacency after posting a two sets to none lead, allowing a fired-up Systema to claw its way out of the rut and force a fifth set mainly through the heroics of Michael Zamora, who scored 18 of his game-high 21 points on kills.
Firing from both sides, PLDT stormed to an 11-7 lead in the fifth, but Systema, egged on by the big crowd, made a last stand and even tied the match at 14-14.
But PLDT made a quick kill before hard-hitting Patrick Rojas smashed it long to hand the Speed Boosters the crown after two hours and two minutes.