Army redeems two-set blunder, overcomes Cagayan in five sets

MANILA, Philippines—Making good after their two-set meltdown, the Philippine Army Lady Troopers took down the Cagayan Lady Rising Suns 3-2, 25-22, 26-24, 26-28, 23-25, 15-13, during their second round matchup of the Shakey’s V-League Season 11 3rd Conference at the San Juan Arena Thursday evening.

With a 13-all stalemate, Jovelyn Gonzaga and Nene Bautista rose from the ranks with back-to-back offensive assaults that put an end to the five-setter for good.
Unbeaten in five outings, the Lady Troopers needed two hours and 26 minutes to put down the Rising Suns.

Army allowed Cagayan to roar back when they were up two sets to none with errors getting the best of them.

“Cagayan is not an easy opponent,” Army head coach Rico de Guzman said.

Army faced against two Cagayan imports in Patcharee Saengmuang and Hyapha Amporn.

Nevertheless, Army’s homegrown troopers had the last laugh.

De Guzman admitted that this was tougher the second time around with the Thai imports nearly imposing their will against them.

“We were having a bad time even without the imports,” de Guzman said whose team won their first outing versus Cagayan in another five-setter. “Dindin (Santiago) and Jean (Balse) gravely helped us in the blocking department.”

Army looked to end it all in the third set with a 24-21 lead, but Cagayan’s Thai imports had other ideas.

Amporn streaked for back-to-back points to give Cagayan the matchpoint at 26-25 and Army’s two straight blunders paved the extra life for the Rising Suns.

Santiago and Bautista led the six double-digit scorers for Army with 20 and 18 respectively.

Carmina Aganon, Tina Salak and Jovelyn Gonzaga pitched in 16, 13 and 12 respectively for the 5-0 slated Lady Troopers.

Amporn and Saengmuang had 22 points apiece for the 2-2 Rising Suns.