FILE–Choco Mucho’s Sisi Rondina and Des Cheng. MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Choco Mucho crawled its way back from a two-set deficit before beating Suwon City of South Korea in five sets, 16-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-17, 15-11, to finish the VTV Cup elimination round on a high note on Wednesday in Vietnam.
The Flying Titans banked on the troika of Sisi Rondina, Des Cheng, and Cait Viray to recover from a 0-2 deficit and forced a decider against the Koreans, who were led by the duo of Young-in Yoon and Kim Bo-Been.
Rondina joined hands with Cheng and middle blocker Cherry Nunag to break a 9-9 tie in the fifth set to pull away with a 14-10 lead before Suwon stopped the bleeding with a block.
But Rondina nailed the game-winning hit through the net defense of the Koreans to finish the elimination round with a 3-2 record.
Cheng and Nunag also delivered in the clutch with setter Deanna Wong orchestrating the plays and liberos Denden Lazaro-Revilla and Thang Ponce taking turns in protecting their floor.
Choco Mucho bounced back from a 25-20, 28-26, 21-25, 20-25, 9-15 collapse to Vietnam 2 on Tuesday after showing its composure despite going down to 0-2 in the game.
The Premier Volleyball League club will face either one of the two Vietnamese national squads in the semis on Friday.
The Flying Titans’ two losses in the elimination round came from the two Vietnamese teams as they took down Australia, Kansai, and Suwon.