PVL: PetroGazz fends off Pocari-Air Force for 3rd straight win

PetroGazz finally established a solid foundation and streaked to its third straight win after dismantling Pocari-Air Force, 25-19, 20-25, 28-26, 25-21, in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference Wednesday at Filoil Flying V Centre.

The Angels started the tournament with a 0-3 record but are now tied with the Lady Warriors at fourth seed with a 3-3 mark.

But this win didn’t go as smoothly as the Angels intended.

Pocari-Air Force held a big 16-8 lead in the pivotal third set but the Angels persevered and went on an 11-1 run to take the 19-17.

The Angels pulled off another comeback in the fourth set with Paneng Mercado scoring two consecutive points to tie the period at 14-14 after the 14-10 deficit.

“I see improvement and we’ll just work on our slow starts,” said Angels head coach Jerry Yee in Filipino. “I can see that they can hang on and they show the determination to win.”

The Angels eventually kept its distance late in the set against the Lady Warriors with Cherry Nunag scoring on a quick kill for the 23-20 lead. Anastasiia Trach then put it away with a crosscourt kill that crept along the net.

Olena Lymareva-Flink put up a game-high 30 points for the Angels while Trach added 17.

Myla Pablo had 20 points to lead the Lady Warriors while Madeline Palmer and Arielle Love had 17 and 13 points, respectively.