PSL: Sta. Lucia ends 10-game slide, repeats over Marinerang Pilipina

Amanda Villanueva over Nica Gulliman and Dimdim Pacres. PSL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Sta. Lucia finally snapped its 10-game losing streak by repeating over winless Marinerang Pilipina, 25-17, 25-19, 31-29, in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference Thursday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

Amanda Villanueva hammered nine kills and scored off four blocks for 13 points while Pam Lastimosa added 11 for the Lady Realtors, who had lost all their games after opening the conference with a victory over the Lady Skippers.

Glaudine Troncoso, seeing action late in the third set, also provided a spark for the Lady Realtors in a marathon contest that saw the stubborn Lady Skippers try to salvage an extra set.

“I want to acknowledge my players who went through a lot of losses, but didn’t give up,” said Sta. Lucia coach Babes Castillo, whose wards improved to 2-10.

“We wanted to solve it and find a way to stop our losing streak. In fact, we really wanted to win in straight sets. They showed their composure in this game.”

After taking control of the first two sets, Sta. Lucia squandered a 23-20 lead from Troncoso’s back-to-back attacks as Judith Abil and Chiara Permentilla lifted Marinerang Pilipina at set point, 25-24.

The Lady Realtors reached four match points only for their errors that kept the Lady Skippers forcing deuces until Troncoso scored her eighth point for a 30-29 lead followed by Abil’s attack error.