MANILA, Philippines—A superb debut from its rookies fueled Foton as they heated up in the final set to disrupt Cignal HD, 25-18, 26-24, 25-23, in the opener of the Philippine Super Liga All-Filipino Conference on Saturday afternoon at Mall of Asia Arena.
Despite taking a 2-0 set lead, the Tornadoes were staring at a 10-16 hole in the third set but got their gears together to take the W of the league’s opening game.
Tornadoes head coach Vilet Ponce de Leon admitted that they are thankful for an intact team and they got off to a good start.
“Last conference, we started late and our first games were … sort of like our training since we started late,” Ponce de Leon said.
“This conference we started early to start and we retained most of our players from last conference.”
Tornado rookies Nicole Tiamzon and Pam Lastimosa combined for 22 points while middle blocker Angeli Araneta held her own in defense while scoring three points.
“The players really wanted this and paced themselves against their opponents,” Ponce de Leon said.
Janine Navarro led Cignal with 10.