American imports Victoria Hurtt and Sareea Freeman powered the PLDT Ultra Fast Hitters to a 25-12, 25-12, 23-25, 25-21 victory over Kia Forte Saturday in the Shakey’s V-League Season 12-Reinforced Conference at Filoil Flying V Arena.
The Ultra Fast Hitters dashed Kia Forte’s semifinal hopes behind Hurtt and Freeman, a pair of former US NCAA aces acquired to boost PLDT’s championship bid.
“We’re still in the getting-to-know-each-other stage. Give them one to two weeks more and they’ll be fine,” said Gorayeb after his team won all but one of the five games in the eliminations.
Hurtt, an outside hitter who played for Iowa State, easily had 20 kills capped by a ruthless spike at match point while the 6-foot-4 Freeman, still shaken by jet lag, added 15 points, 14 of them power smashes.
Freeman played varsity basketball and volleyball at Florida State.
The Ultra Fast Hitters placed second after the elimination round to gain a twice-to-beat edge in the Final Four along with unbeaten Philippine Army.
Kia Forte bowed out of contention with a 1-4 record.
Honey Royse Tubino pummeled University of the Philippines with 22 attacks and had four service aces and two blocks as Philippine Army swept the six-team eliminations with a come-from-behind 23-25, 25-18, 25-14, 25-23 win in the other game.