Shopinas gains tie for Liga top spot

Shopinas leaned on teamwork and steady play down the stretch to down the Michele Gumabao-led Philips Gold, 25-18, 26-24, 29-27, yesterday and grab a share of the lead in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Gumabao, one of La Salle’s most prolific players of old, unloaded a game-high 13 points but her former teammates and coach in Shopinas were just too much for the 22-year-old captain and her fledgling squad.

“I’m happy for her (Gumabao) because she really wanted to show how much she learned, and she played very well today,” said Shopinas coach Ramil de Jesus.  “But my team has the system and although we didn’t get to practice well they followed the instructions well.”

De Jesus said they knew Gumabao’s style of play well enough and made her work doubly hard.

In the second game, Mane ‘n Tail drubbed Cignal, 27-25, 25-21, 25-21, to post its first win in two outings.

The HD Spikers dropped to 0-2.

While no  Lady Clicker  scored in double figures, Shopinas’ solid teamwork  made things very difficult for the Lady Slammers, who took a second straight loss.

Cha Cruz and Stephanie Mercado each nailed nine points, while Michelle Laborte added eight including two straight points when the Lady Slammers fought hard to extend the third set.

As in the second set, Philips Gold was first to reach set point at 24-23 only to fall into a rash of errors.

Desiree Dadang scored off a block for 24-23 in the third set, but Leuseth Dawis bungled a serve. Hazel Mea once again put the Lady Slammers on the threshold with a spike for 27-26 but their top players committed  mistakes that cost them the match.

Dadang was short on her serve before Gumabao’s hit was deflected by Kim Dy for 28-27. Myla Pablo next fired straight to the net as the Lady Slammers fell to their second straight defeat.

All told, Philips Gold committed 34 errors against Shopinas’ 22.