BaliPure trips Power Smashers

A victory packed with unforgivable errors is definitely not a happy thought for BaliPure coach Roger Gorayeb.

The Water Defenders gave up the opening set before sending the Power Smashers to their knees Tuesday in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

“It was a bad game,” said Gorayeb in Filipino after his team scraped past the Power Smashers, 17-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-22, to maintain an unbeaten slate after two games.

“Committing errors are normal, but we should learn from every mistake,” he added.

Jerrili Malabanan somehow pacified her coach after leading BaliPure with 20 points, 19 of them on crisp and solid attacks at the net, while Grethcel Soltones contributed 15 points.

“We lacked communication inside the court. This should not happen at this point in the tournament,” said Gorayeb.

He was particularly annoyed at his team when the Water Defenders mounted a rally and pulled within a point or two on several occasions—only to commit a service error in the next sequence to bail the Power Smashers out.

The trio of Jovelyn Prado, Regine Arocha and Dimdim Pacres scored 11 points while Katherine Villegas added 10 for the Power Smashers, who slid to 1-1.

“Our team should learn from this and develop maturity as a team,” said Gorayeb.

It could had gone either way in the final three sets with the Water Defenders pulling through with a couple of lucky breaks in the deciding set after the Power Smashers knotted the count for the last time at 22.