Sato powers BaliPure past Creamline girls

Risa Sato scored three of her 16 points in a tense exchange in the fourth set to lift BaliPure to a 26-24, 17-25, 25-23, 28-26 triumph over Creamline Tuesday night in the Premier Volleyball League at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

The Water Defenders thus closed in on a spot in the semifinals after posting their fourth win in five matches.

But more importantly, BaliPure got its groove back after a stinging defeat at the hands of Perlas in its previous game.

With BaliPure needing to wriggle out of a tight situation, Sato, a Filipino-Japanese spiker, cut loose with a quick kill to help the Water Defenders save set point, 23-24.

A couple of errors by the Cool Smashers allowed the Water Defenders to move on top, 25-24, before Alyssa Valdez struck back for Creamline to make it 25-all.

But Sato, getting the feed from National University teammate Jasmine Nabor, scored on a quick strike for 26-25, only to see Creamline tying it one last time in the next play.

Jerril Malabanan next fired one before Sato delivered the killing blow via a tip-in.

Malabanan wound up with 15 points, supported by Grethcel Soltones and Aiko Urdas who contributed 12 and 10 markers, respectively, for BaliPure. Nabor had 41 excellent sets.

Valdez tried to carry Creamline on her shoulders with 27 points but they weren’t enough as the Cool Smashers dropped to 2-4 and are in danger of getting booted out from the next round.