Race heats up

Fresh from their epic battle two days ago, league-leading Petron and F2 Logistics face different opponents Saturday as the race for No. 1 position in the playoffs of the Philippine Superliga All Filipino Conference enters its homestretch.

Petron takes on Foton, while F2 Logistics clashes with PLDT in the twin-bill starting at 4 p.m. at Corpus Christi Gym in Cagayan de Oro City.

The Blaze Spikers are looking to wrap up the double-round preliminaries with an 11-game winning streak and assure themselves of a quarterfinal duel against tail-ending squad Marinerang Pilipina.

“Our hard work paid off, but are still far from our goal which is to defend our title,” said Petron coach Shaq delos Santos.

With a big championship heart, the Blaze Spikers came roaring back from two sets down to post a morale-building 26-28, 27-29, 25-19, 25-20, 15-6 victory late Thursday over the Cargo Movers.

But F2 Logistics coach Ramil de Jesus said he welcomes the loss, which comes after they won their first 11 matches of the conference.

“We need to get through this [loss] because if you win it all, we don’t have anything to correct in training,” said De Jesus in Filipino. “It’s better to lose [early] than in the quarterfinals or semifinals.”

The Cargo Movers will be clashing with the Power Hitters who are coming off a shock victory over the Generika-Ayala Lifesavers.

Now the Power Hitters may be languishing in the lower end of the standings, but with a seasoned coach and a young, underrated lineup, they could pull off another surprise.

“All I want for my team is to gain confidence because in the quarterfinals, one miss, you die. But if you win, you’ll take a big leap to get to the top four,” said PLDT coach Roger Gorayeb.