PSL: Sta. Lucia blanks Cignal to gain share of third place

Sta. Lucia reached prime real estate after balancing its act with a sweep of Cignal, 32-30, 25-22, 25-21, in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix Thursday at Filoil Flying V Centre.

The Realtors evened out their record at 2-2, the same card as the HD Spikers, and created a three-way tie for the third seed Foton.

Sta. Lucia crawled back from an 18-15 deficit in the third set and tied the set at 19-all after MJ Phillips’ kill.

Phillips then took part in the Realtors’ taking of the 22-20 lead when she joined Marisa Field for the block on Sonja Milanovic.

Bohdana Anisova then scored two straight kills to finish off the HD Spikers.

Sta. Lucia head coach George Pascua, who was at the helm for Cignal the previous season, said his familiarization with his former team helped his current one seal the victory in just three sets.

“Of course there’s the familiarization aspect, we knew whom to target and the imports became our priority,” said Pascua in Filipino as he pertained to Milanovic and Jeane Horton.

“For me it’s quite easy to adjust because this is still volleyball and the players have already adapted to my system.”

Anisova led the Realtors with 23 points while Phillips added 16 points.

Horton had 21points to lead the HD Spikers with Milanovic pitching in 16.