Petro Gazz, BanKo shore up semis chances

BanKo Perlas and Petro Gazz firmed up their respective semifinal bids with empathic victories over separate rivals Saturday night in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at Filoil Flying V Centre.

The Perlas Spikers continued their hot streak, stringing up their fourth straight win after a 25-19, 22-25, 25-14, 25-19 conquest of the BaliPure Water Defenders.

Lakia Bright carpet-bombed the enemy with 24 points to power BanKo, which assured itself of at least a playoff for one of the two remaining spots in the semifinals after rising to 4-0.

The Perlas Spikers’ win also doomed the Water Defenders’ chances of advancing as they absorbed their third loss in four games.

BanKo can make it to the semis without any complication if it beats PetroGazz on Wednesday.

But it won’t be a walk in the park.

Earlier, Petro Gazz illustrated how badly it wants to join the semis after posting a 25-19, 25-14, 25-19 rout of Iriga-Navy.

“It’s a victory of the whole team as we always put our maximum effort in every game,” said Anastasia Trach of Petro Gazz. “Every game is important for us but for now I think we are on the right track.”

She scored 17 points, the same output of fellow import Olena Lymareva-Flink in leading the Angels’ third straight win.

Stephanie Mercado added nine markers for Petro Gazz, which also got seven from Cherry Nunag.

Lauren Whyte topscored with 18 points for the Lady Oragons but she appeared to be the only one bent on winning among her teammates.