V-League: Reinforced PLDT locks second seed, edges Kia

PLDT Home Ultera Ultra Fast Spikers. Photo from Shakey’s V-League Facebook

With new towering imports backing them up, PLDT Home Ultera stopped Kia in its tracks, 25-12, 25-12, 23-25, 25-21, Saturday at San Juan Arena to secure the second seed ahead of the semifinals of the Shakey’s V-League Reinforced Conference.

Import Victoria Hurtt, who is playing her first V-League game, sealed it all for the Ultra Fast Hitters with a quick hit from the middle as PLDT ended the eliminations with a 4-1 record.

PLDT head coach Roger Gorayeb said that even with Hurtt and Sareea Freeman in tow, it would still be a long process of building chemistry as the two Americans only arrived in the country Wednesday midnight.

“It’s a ‘getting to know each other’ stage,” Gorayeb said. “We still have so much work to do.”

PLDT’s weakness was evident in the third set when it allowed Kia to come back from a 23-22 deficit to a set win.

A string of errors and an ace from Danielle Castañeda saw Kia take the penultimate set before the Ultra Fast Hitters sealed the win.

Gorayeb added it would take “probably” two weeks for the team to get it together chemistry-wise.

Hurtt was not too shabby on her first game finishing with 21 points to lead PLDT while Freeman added 15.

Alexa Micek and Bang Pineda led the 1-4 Kia with 10 points apiece.

PLDT also had the lion’s share of attack points with 60 spikes while Kia only had 36.