Akari Chargers’ Dindin Santiago-Manabat. –PVL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Petro Gazz defeated Akari in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference on Saturday but it didn’t come without any hardships.
The Angels’ hardship, in this case, was in the form of the Chargers’ veteran player Dindin Santiago-Manabat.
What should’ve been a usual day in the office for Petro Gazz turned out like a disaster prevention class trying to stop Santiago-Manabat and Angels coach Timmy Sto. Tomas had to give her due credit for it.
“I have to give it to her because we all know that Dindin’s the go-to girl of Akari. Despite how bad their possessions are, they still give her the ball,” said Sto. Tomas after their 25-18, 17-25, 25-22, 32-30 win over the Chargers at Philsports Arena
“We really tried to manage her points. We forced her to go where we wanted her to go and we were lucky enough that sometimes it worked. There were more times that she matched our efforts but then again, it’s somehow good that we were able to contain her in some sets.”
Petro Gazz’s blueprint of trying to stop the veteran player seemed to have its own flaws since Santiago-Manabat still came out as the game’s top scorer with 26 points despite the loss.
Sto. Tomas even went as far as to say that she was the Angels’ central focus prior to Saturday’s game with the way she impacts the game inside the teraflex.
“We knew that most of the attacks and loads of sets go to Dindin so she was well-studied and guarded. We really had to study well about what her tendencies were.”
Thankfully for Petro Gazz, they had the firepower to match the National University product’s superb outing on the offensive end.
Marian Buitre answered the call for the Angels to fight fire with fire, scoring 22 points in the victory that pushed them to a 6-4 record.
The duo of Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Grethcel Soltones also came up big to match Santiago-Manabat’s outburst with 19 and 18 points, respectively.