Hot Lady Troopers neutralize Santiago, outlast Blaze Spikers

Games Saturday (University of San Carlos, Cebu City)

4 pm – Systema vs Cignal (men’s)

6 pm – AirAsia vs Petron (women’s)

MANILA, Philippines - Generika-Army shackled high-scoring hitter Dindin Santiago to hack out a masterful 25-23, 25-23, 25-19 conquest of Petron in the 2014 PLDT Home-Philippine Superliga (PSL) All-Filipino Conference volleyball tournament yesterday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

With Jovelyn Gonzaga and Tina Salak anchoring the defense, the Lady Troopers took control from the opening serve to roll to their fourth straight win in six games in the women’s division of this premiere club tournament supported by PLDT Home DSL and backed by Mikasa, Asics, Mueller Tapes, Jinling Sports Equipment, LGR, Bench and Healthway Medical.

In the second game, PLDT-Air Force made short work of rival Cignal, 25-18, 25-22, 25-20, to remain unscathed in the men’s division.

National team standout Alnakran Abdilla punched in 20 points, including 17 hits while Rodolfo Labrador and Ronjay Galang chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively, as the Power Attackers inched closer to an outright finals berth after coasting to their sixth straight win.

Gonzaga delivered 16 kills for a total of 18 points while conspiring with Salak in shutting down Santiago, the hard-hitting 6-foot-2 rookie from National University who was averaging a shade over 30 points a game in her first three games.

Santiago huffed and puffed all game long but finished with 17 points, her lowest output in this competition organized by Sports Core with Solar Sports as official broadcast partner.

It was Petron’s first loss in three games.

More than that, the Blaze Spikers will be nursing a bruised ego when they fly to Cebu City to face AirAsia for the league’s first-ever out of town games dubbed as “Spike on Tour!” on Saturday at the University of San Carlos gym.

“We played great defensively,” said Generika-Army coach Rico de Guzman. “We did a good job in stopping Dindin Santiago. We know that she’s the league’s highest scorer. So we came up with a good defensive strategy that threw her out of her game in the first two sets.”

True enough, with Gonzaga and Salak asserting their defensive dominance, Santiago had a terrible time getting her groove as the Blaze Spikers fell to a maze of errors early on, giving the Lady Troopers an easier time in winning the first set.

Generika-Army’s lead, however, was strongly contested in the second set when Petron -- behind the hot smashes of Santiago -- clawed its way back from a six-point hole, 17-23, to just within a hairline, 22-23, in the second set.

But the Blaze Spikers committed an error while Rachel Ann Daquis fired a booming kill from the left flank to seal the set victory en route to an easy win.

“Aside from defense, I was also satisfied with our attacks,” De Guzman added. “The girls followed our gameplan and we were fortunate that Petron didn’t come up with an answer to our frontline attacks.”

Daquis supported Gonzaga with 14 points while Mary Jean Balse finished 12 markers for the Army, which has yet to lose since welcoming the veteran Salak back in the lineup.