RC Cola-Air Force regains PSL leadership

GAMES SUNDAY

(Cuneta Astrodome) 3 p.m.—Air Asia vs PLDT (w)

5 p.m.—Cagayan vs Cignal (w)

7 p.m.—Cignal vs IEM (m)

MANILA, Philippines — RC Cola-Air Force bounced back with a masterful triumph over Air Asia to regain the women’s top spot while Systema downed Instituto Estetico Manila for its second straight men’s win Wednesday night in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference volleyball tournament at Cuneta Astrodome.

Showing no effect from its stinging loss to Petron last Sunday, RC Cola-Air Force showed up with a lot of spunk to whip Air Asia, 25-17, 25-18, 25-15, and nail its fourth win in five games. Air Asia absorbed a second consecutive defeat.

Systema prevailed, 25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23, to sustain its comeback after a 0-2 start.

IEM fell to 1-2. Judy Caballejo and Joy Cases paced the Raiders’ offense, banging in 15 and 14 points, respectively. Maika Ortiz chipped in 9, while Rhea Dimaculangan added six.

“I told them to forget about our loss to Petron. We should get back to winning,” said RC coach Clarence Esteban. “To boost our morale, I told them to treat each game like a championship game.”

After tucking away the first two sets, RC quickly opened up a 6-0 lead and then Esteban sent in pretty but seldom-used players Jed Montero and Southlyn Ramos.

The two crowd-pleasers didn’t disappoint and Ramos even drilled home match point off the block.

“I was expecting a high level of competition because both teams are coming from losses,” said Esteban, who was surprised by their straight-set win.

Stephanie Mercado and Cha Cruz tried to carry the fight for the Flying Spikers but the rest of the team were sorely lacking fire.

“We are still in the adjustment stage. We have yet to jell with our setter,” said Air Asia coach Ramil de Jesus. “Hopefully we can recover on Sunday (against PLDT).”