PVL: Pocari-Air Force steadies course, trips Iriga-Navy

Pocari-Air Force cruised to stable altitude and turned back Iriga-Navy, 25-8, 23-25, 25-18, 25-16, in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference Wednesday at Filoil Flying V Centre.

The Lady Warriors, who have yet to chalk two consecutive wins, improved to a 2-2 record while the Lady Oragons dropped their second straight game to move to 1-2.

Pocari went straight to work in the fourth set, eager to erase the bitter taste of that disappointing second set, and put up an 8-2 lead at the start of the period.

Although the Lady Oragons managed to get to 14-10, the Lady Warriors were quick to retaliate with a 6-1 run that Jeanette Panaga and Arielle Love punctuated with a block on Iriga-Navy captain Grazielle Bombita for the 20-11 lead.

Skipper Myla Pablo then gave the Lady Warriors a 10-point lead, 23-13, with an off-the-block kill then she followed it up with another similar spike to end the match.

Lady Warriors head coach Jasper Jimenez tipped his hat off to the Lady Oragons for taking care of the second set but he did praise his team for showing the resiliency in the third and fourth sets.

“The other team really stepped up in the second set but my team held its own in the third and fourth sets,” said Jimenez in Filipino. “We need to win the next three games, it’s win or win for us.”

Love put up 25 points to lead the Lady Warriors while Pablo added 13.

Madeline Palmer and Panaga also finished in double digits with 13 and 10 points, respectively,

Macy Ubben and Lauren Whyte had 15 points apiece for the Iriga-Navy.