Air Force takes flight; PetroGazz scores

The Air Force finally got off the ground, but, despite its first win in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference, still expects a bumpy ride ahead.

The Jet Spikers held it together for a change on Sunday night, dominating Chef’s Classics, 26-24, 25-15, 25-22, at FilOil Flying Centre.

However the Jet Spikers’ next assignments would be against tougher teams Choco Mucho and PacificTown-Army to close out the preliminaries.

Later, PetroGazz drained a Motolite team that couldn’t plugged the holes left by injured star Myla Pablo, scoring a 25-21, 25-16, 28-26 triumph.

It was the Angels’ fourth straight victory that hiked their record to 5-2 for a second place tie with the idle BanKo Perlas Spikers.

Pablo, who missed games in the previous conference due to back injury, hurt her right ankle at the start of second set and was wheeled out on stretcher.

The Motolite Spikers saw their own winning run cut to four and fell to 4-2.

Still it’s a welcome development for the squad composed of low-key veterans.

“It’s a team effort because we wanted to score our first win,” said Dell Palomata in Filipino. The lanky middle blocker accounted for 16 points, including four blocks.

Air Force coach Jasper Jimenez heaved a sigh of relief after scoring their first win in six games which created distance from a young Chef’s Classics team which is just gaining experience in the club league.

The Red Spikers, whose core is composed of San Beda players, remained winless in seven outings.

“Hopefully, this continues,” said Jimenez in Filipino. “Slowly, we are getting our focus.”

Judy Caballejo added 12 points, while Joy Cases chipped in 10 for Air Force.

Jimenez admitted that there is still plenty of room for improvement.