Iloilo D’Navigators’ Jade Disquitado in the Spikers’ Turf. –PVL IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines — Jade Disquitado showed the way for the Iloilo D’Navigators as they blanked defending champion National University-Archipelago to a 25-23, 25-20, 25-21, to gain an early share of the lead in the 2023 Spikers’ Turf Open Conference on Sunday at Paco Arena.
Disquitado, once again, delivered the goods for the Navigators with a game-high 16 points off 14 kills, one block, and an ace to sweep the Builders — the NU Team B playing for last year’s champion — in just 90 minutes.
Playmaker John Michael Apolinario dished out 22 excellent sets for Iloilo to dominate NU in attacking, 41-27, as Deanne De Pedro and Jerome Cordez chipped in nine points each, while Mfena Gwaza nailed three blocks to add seven markers.
Iloilo coach John Kenneth Panes was happy to see his players stick to their game plan for an early 2-0 league lead tied with Imus.
“We’re happy to get two straight wins because I told my players to just stick to our game plan because we reviewed their [NU] game. We just executed our preparation against them,” said Panes in Filipino.
“I’m thankful to our Ilonggo manager because he gave us an opportunity to play here in Spikers’ Turf. Iloilo is good in volleyball so we wanted to represent our province here in Manila.”
Dante Alinsunurin’s team fell to a 0-2 record, despite dominating the blockings with a 10-5 edge but his young players committed 27 errors.
No one from NU scored in double figures with Mac Bandola leading the way with eight points, while Rwenzmel Taguibolos, Joseph Bello, and Jan Abanilla added six markers each.