Weary Angels turn back gritty Oragons

PetroGazz overcame fatigue and Iriga-Navy, 25-19, 25-20, 23-25, 28-26, late Sunday to bolster its campaign in the Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Open Conference at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

Playing their fifth straight game in a nine-day stretch, the Angels seemed to have lost steam in a third-set setback but bounced back in an extended fourth-set duel to turn back the Lady Oragons and improve
to 3-2.

The victory came after they overcame the fancied Alyssa Valdez-led Creamline Cool Smashers in a grueling five-setter late Saturday, 27-25, 17-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-5.

“The girls are really tired,” said PetroGazz coach Jerry Yee, who used all but reserve libero Rica Enclona in the match.

“One also has to consider our training, so whoever I send to the court, there’s really the fatigue factor.”

With his mainstays showing fatigue in the third set, Yee started Ranya Musa in the fourth and sent Rachel Austero off the bench.

The duo delivered with Austero scoring all her four points in the frame, including an offspeed hit and an ace that sealed PetroGazz’s victory.

“Again, we tell them, the coaching staff, rotate the players, use our timeouts,” said Yee, whose wards get a much-needed break before facing another tough opponent in Ateneo-Motolite on Saturday.

“Let’s use our depth, whatever we have.”

Earlier, Tacloban foiled the Adamson-Akari attackers at the net to score a 25-21, 25-12, 25-22 rout as the Fighting Warays notched back-to-back wins after an opening-game loss.
BanKo-Perlas paces the eight-team field at 2-0 while Ateneo occupies second spot (1-0).