MANILA, Philippines—Putting their improved attack line to good use, the Philippine Army Lady Troopers paved the sunset ending for the Cagayan Lady Rising Suns 3-2, 17-25, 25-17, 17-25, 25-21, 15-13, during their encounter at the Shakey’s V-League Season 11 3rd Conference at the Arena in San Juan Tuesday evening.
New addition Dindin Santiago joined battle-tested veterans Mary Jean Balse and Jovelyn Gonzaga to capture the fifth set and the second victory in two games to their holster.
With a 9-9 stalemate in the fifth set, Santiago and Gonzaga went full force against the Rising Suns with the duo going for five unanswered points to put the boards at 14-9.
Santiago started the raid with a nifty attack, 10-9, then Gonzaga went full berserker mode scoring three straight with Santiago capping the charge with a service ace, 14-9.
Cagayan, however, put up one last fight with Aiza Maizo-Pontillas scoring twice and the Lady Troopers committing two errors that put the scores at 14-13.
Balse, the wily veteran, would prove that they would not be denied with a precision hit to the middle of the Cagayan field.
Breathing-heavily after the five-setter, Balse said that the play the Lady Troopers displayed was not the brand of volleyball that the Philippine Army plays.
“We didn’t have a receiving game, we were relaxed” Balse said. “There were a lot of communication errors throughout the match.”
With their backs against a 2-1 deficit, the Lady Troopers turned it around in a topsy-turvy fourth set.
Down 19-20 against the Lady Rising Suns, the Lady Troopers would counter with a 6-1 blitz with Balse and Gonzaga leading the way.
“Why did we come here if we would only play like this?” Balse queried.
Rookie Trooper Santiago is proving that she deserves her stripes leading the Philippine Army with 25 points while Gonzaga and Balse had 19 and 16 apiece.
Perennial scorer Rachel Ann Daquis only managed five points across three sets as she suffered body pains.
Maizo-Pontillas and Angeli Tabaquero combined for 44 points but their firepower could not salvage a victory for their first outing leaving them with a 0-1 record.
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