Vietnam volleybelles fight back for SEA Club crown

MANILA, Philippines—Vietsovpetro regained its ruthless form in the nick of time to hack out an 18-25, 14-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-8 triumph over Philippine Army and capture the first V-League Southeast Asian Club Invitational title at the FilOil-Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Lethargic in the first two sets, the Vietnamese squad regained its confidence by winning the next two frames, before leaning on Russian imports Nastya Trernai and Ekaterina Martynova to take the fight out of the Lady Troopers with a dominant performance in the deciding game.

Finally figuring out a way to neutralize the Lady Troopers’ attacking game, Vietsovpetro raced to a 10-0 lead in the final set, all but sealing the title for the Vietnamese squad, which completed a four-game sweep of the tournament.

The 6-foot Trernai proved to be a thorn on the side of the Lady Troopers, scoring on a wide array of off-speed spikes and down-the-line kills to help the Vietnamese squad recover from its sluggish start.

“We did not stop playing, everybody worked hard,” said the 24-year-old Trernai, who was later named best attacker of the tournament.

“The Philippines is an interesting team to play against. They knew our flaws.”

The Lady Troopers were actually two points away from the title in the fourth set at 23-21 when a string of errors by Joanne Bunag on Trernai’s serve doomed their bid.

Only two weeks into her stint with the team after playing in a pro league in Cyprus, Trernai finished with a team high 24 points, including eight in the fifth set.

Martynova also sparkled in the championship game with 17 points, including two key blocks early in the fifth set. She was later named Most Valuable Player of the four-team tournament.

The ploy of Vietsovpetro coach Aleksey Diva to put Martynova and Trernai on the frontline to start the race-to-15 fifth set worked wonders as the Vietnamese squad sustained its blazing form.

The Lady Troopers could only manage to come within six at 7-13 in the fifth set on Joanne Bunag’s kill.

Bunag finished with 17 points, while Rachel Ann Daquis and Marietta Carolino contributed 15 and 13, respectively.

Earlier, Malaysia dumped undermanned Ateneo, 25-22, 25-21, 25-13, to end up third in the tournament.

Yew Sook Ting and Teh Huei Hong combined for 31 points to spearhead the Malaysians, who won only one of their four matches in the event organized by Sports Vision.

Alyssa Valdez paced the Lady Eagles with 17 points, while Fille Cainglet contributed 12.

Jamenea Ferrrer and Dennise Lazaro salvaged some pride for the Lady Eagles by grabbing the best setter and best server awards, respectively.