PSL: Petron bounces back, slips past Cignal

Petron vs Cignal. PSL IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines–Petron snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, escaping with a 25-20, 18-25, 25-16, 16-25, 16-14 win over hard-fighting Cignal Saturday in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference at Muntinlupa Sports Center.

Ces Molina scored 23 points, including the Blaze Spikers’ final four makers that erased a 14-11 deficit in a stunning display of a championship poise for the defending titlist.

Petron bounced back from a defeat at the hands of F2 Logistics and regained its footing with a 3-1 record. Cignal absorbed its first loss in three matches.

After taking the third set with seeming ease, the Blaze Spikers got caught up in a spate of errors, allowing the HD Spikers to take the fourth and force a deciding frame.

Mylene Paat and Rachel Anne Daquis scored successive points to give Cignal three match points, 14-11, in the fifth.

But that hardly rattled the five-time champs with Bernadeth Pons hammering from the right flank. Molina then buckled down the stretch flicking a drop shot for 13-14, before scoring on a kill-block for the deadlock.

The team captain, who is also member of the national team, didn’t stop there as she slammed down two straight shots off Rhea Dimaculangan’s flawless sets to steal the win.