Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Petron moved one step closer to a title repeat after dismantling rival F2 Logistics in straight sets, 25-23, 25-11, 25-17, in Game 1 of the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference Finals Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.
The Blaze Spikers also hiked their perfect record in the conference to 13 games with one more giving them the their fourth championship, the most in the PSL.
Petron shrugged off a slow first set and started to gain offensive power in the second and third periods thanks to large part to substitute Cherry Rondina.
Rondina gave the Blaze Spikers a 16-11 lead in the third set with an earth-shattering kill then followed it up with another emphatic spike for Petron’s 20-11 lead.
Petron head coach Shaq Delos Santos said he had to remind his team to stop adjusting to F2’s pace since they’ve met each other in the finals of the PSL, regardless of the conference, for the fifth straight time.
“We had a slow start in the first set and it’s a good thing that we were able to recover,” said Delos Santos in Filipino. “I told them that this was a championship game and that they didn’t need to adjust to our opponents and we just have to stick to our game plan.”
F2 found a bit of hope when Mary Joy Baron denied Remy Palma to cut Petron’s lead to six, 23-17.
Aduke Ogunsanya, however, put the Blaze Spikers into the 24-17 match point after her service error and Palma answered back with a service ace to finish things off.
Rondina finished with 12 points to lead all scorers while Bernadeth Pons added 10 points for Petron.
Palma and Mika Reyes also had solid contributions for the Blaze Spikers with nine and seven points, respectively.
Ara Galang had nine points to lead the Cargo Movers.