Petron Blaze Spikers bumubuo ng ‘Dynasty’ sa Superliga

MANILA, Philippines — Tila bumubuo ng dinastiya ang Petron Blaze Spi­kers sa Philippine Superliga.

Ngunit matapos masungkit ang Grand Prix title kamakalawa ng gabi – ang ikaanim na korona ng Blaze Spikers sa liga – walang balak magpahinga ang Petron dahil desidido itong humakot pa ng titulo sa mga susunod na kumperensiya.

“We’re not yet done. We will work hard to win more titles,” deklarasyon ni Petron head coach Shaq Delos Santos.

Nais ni Delos Santos na ipagpatuloy ang winning culture ng Petron, bagay na tila banta at ha­mon sa mga kalaban nito partikular na sa susunod na kumperensiya – ang All-Filipino Conference.

“We give our 100 percent every conference whe­ther we’re the reigning champions or not. We have no plans of taking it easy because we want to have a winning culture at Petron. So rest assured that we would do our best again to win the title in the All-Filipino,” ani Delos Santos.

Mabagsik ang Petron nang pataubin nila ang F2 Logistics sa pamamagitan ng 26-24, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19 demolisyon sa rubber match ng best-of-three championship series para masiguro ang back-to-back titles.

Walang iba kundi sina American imports Ste­phanie Niemer at Katherine Bell ang nasandalan ng Blaze Spikers para pigilan ang Cargo Movers.

Humataw si Niemer ng 31 puntos habang nagdagdag si Bell ng 16 hits sa naturang laro.

Nasungkit ni Niemer ang Best Scorer at Most Va­luable Player awards habang ibinigay kay Bell ang Foreign Best Outside Hitter award, samantalang si Rhea Dimaculangan ang Best Setter.

“Our loss in Game One served as the turning point. After we lost in Game One, we had an open forum where we allowed everybody to speak up and release everything in their hearts. It was a success. We renewed our commitment to winning and played Games Two and Three with hunger and in­ten­sity,” wika pa ni Delos Santos.

Malaki rin ang naitulong nina Mika Reyes, Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, Frances Molina, Remy Palma at Bernadeth Pons gayundin si libero Denden Lazaro na naglaro pa rin sa kabila ng iniindang trangkaso.

Armado ang Blaze Spikers ng determinasyon na nagamit nito upang pigilan sina Maria Jose Pe­rez at Lindsay Stalzer kasama sina Majoy Baron, Aby Maraño at Dawn Macandili.

“They really wanted this win. The eagerness and hunger of our imports and local players real­ly made a difference in this series. F2 Logistics pushed us to our limit. But we didn’t roll over and submit. Instead, we fought back to capture the title,” dagdag ni Delos Santos.

Sa ngayon, nais ng Blaze Spikers na namnamin ang tagumpay bago sumalang sa panibagong pukpukang training para sa susunod na kumperensiya.

Samantala, ang iba pang individual awardees ay sina Grace Lazard ng PLDT (Best Foreign Middle Blocker), Erica Wilson ng Cignal (Best Foreign Opposite Spiker), F2 Logistics aces Aby Maraño (Best Local Middle Blocker), Dawn Macandili (Best Libero) at Ara Galang (Best Local Outside Spi­ker), at Aiko Urdas ng PLDT (Best Local Op­po­site Spiker).