Sandugo draws first blood

SANDUGO-San Sebastian survived Cagayan Valley’s tough stand, hacking out a grueling five-set victory, 18-25, 29-27, 14-25, 25-13, 15-7, to move within a win of the Shakey’s V-League Open crown yesterday at Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Lady Stags anchored their attack on Thai ace Jeng Bualee, who finished with 26 points just hours after bagging the Best Scorer honor for the sixth time.

Fellow Thai standout Utaiwan Kaensing also fired 23 markers, including four blocks and three service aces, as the Lady Stags zoomed to a 10-5 lead in the deciding fifth set to claim Game 1 of the best-of-three title series.

Cagayan’s Sandra delos Santos, named as this conference’s Most Valuable Player, was held to 11 points.

Earlier, Ateneo downed Philippine Army, 25-21, 19-25, 22-25, 25-18, 15-13, to take a 1-0 edge in their best-of-three battle for third place.

Alyssa Valdez led with a match-high 22 points, while Fille Cainglet and Dzi Gervacio had 18 points each for the Lady Eagles.

Marge Tejada also came through by firing the Lady Eagles’ last two points in the deciding fifth frame.

Other top individual performers honored were Cagayan’s Honey Tubino (Best Attacker), Sandugo’s Utaiwan Kaensing (Best Blocker), Cagayan’s Beatrice Dionela (Best Digger), Army’s Tina Salak (Best Setter), Cagayan’s Joy Cases (Best Server) and Army’s Angela Nunag (Best Receiver).

The Rising Suns took the first set with Thai Sutadta Chuewulim leading the onslaught.

But the Lady Stags avoided falling into a 0-2 set deficit by surviving a grueling second frame, 29-27, which ended with a Nene Bautista spike and a Tubino error.

Far from dejected, the Rising Suns recovered with a strong third set, 25-14, capped by a Delos Santos service ace and a Kunbang Pornpimol hit.

The Lady Stags, though, forged a decider by answering with a dominant set of their own, 25-13, fueled by attacks from Bualee and Nene Bautista.