Petron blazes past Iriga City in Batangas

As early as the opening set, Iriga City coach Parley Tupas surrendered every illusion of scoring an upset against Petron on Saturday.

In a huddle, when they were trailing, 20-10, Tupas was telling his charges to “relax, we have nothing to lose, let’s just score as much points as possible.”

Iriga City did lose. But it wasn’t clear if Tupas was happy with the points his team collected.

The Blaze Spikers, brimming with confidence as well big-name stars, hammered out a 25-12, 25-15, 25-22 triumph over Iriga in the Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga Grand Prix at Batangas City Sports Center.

Petron registered its sixth win in seven games, while handing Iriga City its fifth defeat in seven outings. Both will qualify for the quarterfinals.

From the onset, when the Blaze Spikers piled up a 7-1 lead, it was very clear they were leagues away from the Oragons, who simply had no answer for Petron’s massive firepower anchored on Lindsay Stalzer, Hillary Hurley, Remy Palma and Ria Meneses, among others.