Lady Stallions, Tornadoes trip Superliga foes

FOTON displayed a big fighting heart in downing RC Cola-Air Force even as Mane ’N Tail stunned Cignal HD in another pair of upset wins last night in the Philippine Superliga volleyball Grand Prix presented by Asics at Cuneta Astrodome.

The Tornadoes, the neophyte team in the league that nobody took seriously, battled from two sets down to outlast the highly favored Raiders,  22-25, 15-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-11.

Earlier, Kristy Jaeckel unloaded 36 points in another unstoppable performance as Mane ’N Tail shocked Cignal HD, 25-14, 17-25, 28-26, 25-21.

The unexpected victories suddenly tightened up the race for the next three places behind unbeaten leader Petron.

RC Cola-PAF fell to  3-3 in joint second place with idle Generika, while Cignal and Mane ’N Tail shared third place at 3-4 with Foton now in contention at 2-6.

Veteran setter Rubie de Leon helped Foton rise to the occasion with 41 excellent sets which Russian imports Irina and Elena Tarasova took advantage to score 29 and 25 points, respectively.

The big-scoring American import Jaeckel compiled 31 points on attacks, four service aces and one block.