PVL: Pocari nears bronze, beats BanKo

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Pocari Sweat-Air Force erased a 2-1 set disadvantage and turned back BanKo, 25-22, 17-25, 16-25, 26-24, 15-11, to take the upper hand in the best-of-three bronze medal series of the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.

Arielle Love was clutch in the fifth set, scoring two of the Lady Warriors’ last three points for the 14-11 lead.

Jem Ferrer then, mishandled the ball leading Elaine Kasilag to score on an easy dump to finish off the Perlas Spikers and complete the Lady Warriors’ comeback who played without captain Myla Pablo.

Pocari import Madeline Palmer said they didn’t play with the right mentality in the first three sets and that led to BanKo taking a 2-1 set advantage.

“The change was we played that we wanted to win instead of not wanting to lose,” said Palmer who had a team-high 24 points. “We started being a lot more aggressive and we didn’t think too much because the more you think the more you make errors.”

Love had 17 points to play the supporting role for the Lady Warriors while Del Palomata added 13.

Lakia Bright had 33 points to lead the Perlas Spikers while Montripila Jutarat had 17.