Choco Mucho Flying Titans. PVL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–Choco Mucho survived a furious challenge posed by PLDT Home Fibr before pulling off a 25-21, 23-25, 29-31. 25-15, 15-11 victory Tuesday to enter the semifinals on its first try in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference at FilOil Flying V Center.
Egged on by a big partisan crowd, the Flying Titans teetered amid the High Speed Hitters solid stand, going behind by a set before pulling themselves together and booking a spot to the next round.
Just the first two seeded teams ahead of them, the Flying Titans didn’t have to use their twice-to-beat incentive to get through and set-up a best-of-three semis encounter with the Creamline Cool Smashers.
“I am super grateful. Really no words,” said Kat Tolentino who scored three of her 19 points in the final set to lift the Flying Titans. “I couldn’t have been happier. Thank God for giving us this win. It was a tough one.”
With a set apiece, Choco Mucho wasted eight set points in the third period to allow PLDT to take a set advantage.
But instead of losing their morale, the Flying Titans came back strong in the fourth and extended the match to the distance in a wide margin.
That gave Choco Mucho the momentum going into the deciding set leading, 6-2, before once again finding PLDT breathing down its neck at 10-9.
“It’s not just the fifth set, it was all the sets,” said Tolentino of the extent of their struggle. “We had a slow start. But my teammates were there, they deserve the POG (Player of the Game) not just me.”
True enough, Choco Mucho’s net defense held up, as it scored two crucial blocks in the fifth to prevent PLDT from mounting a comeback.
The Flying Titans had 10 kill blocks in total compared to the High Speed Hitters’ two.