Myla Pablo once again proved that she’s up to her pay grade Sunday night.
With the three-time champion Pocari in a bumpy ride, Pablo took over to bail her team out over hard-fighting University of the Philippines, 21-25, 25-20,
25-18, 25-21, in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference Sunday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
Pablo, who last year rocked the volleyball scene after inking a P7-million contract, slammed a stinger from the back row to quell the Lady Maroons’ late charge in the fourth set.
“Our advantage would always be our teamwork,” said Pablo in Filipino. “And we listen to what our coach (Rico de Guzman) tells us.”
De Guzman, the Lady Warriors’ newly appointed head mentor, also reminded his wards that their star spiker would need some support.
“We need to work on a lot of things. Get the first ball, speed things up but everybody has to step up,” said De Guzman. “We got to help Myla.”
In the second game, BaliPure survived a big scare from Power Smashers to post a 25-15, 22-25, 20-25, 25-19, 15-6 win and start off its bid on a winning note.
With the feisty Lady Maroons trimming a 15-21 deficit to 20-22 on a down-the-line foray of Diane Carlos, Pablo uncorked from the back row to extinguish it.
Pablo accounted for 18 points, while Elaine Kasilag had 15 for Pocari Sweat, which has won the league’s previous three conferences.
Early on, the Lady Warriors didn’t look like the reigning champions that they are as the young guns from UP yanked out the opening set from them.
Carlos and Isa Molde conspired to seal the first-set win for the Lady Maroons, sending across a message that their team means business.