Suns down Boosters, near finals

MANILA, Philippines - Cagayan Valley turned its expected fierce showdown with PLDT Home Telpad into a virtual workout, scoring a 25-15, 25-20, 25-16 victory to move closer to arranging another title duel with Army in the Shakey’s V-League Season 11 Third Conference at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

Like in their first round sweep of the Turbo Boosters last Oct. 12, the Rising Suns pounded their rivals’ net and floor defense with smashes from all angles, coming away with their third victory in five games in just 72 minutes.

That put Cagayan within a win from formally securing the second finals berth in the season-ending conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s. The Rising Suns close out their elims assignment against winless Meralco on Thursday.

PLDT Home Telpad, on the other hand, dropped to 2-3 and will need to hurdle Army tomorrow and hope for a Meralco reversal to force a playoff for the other finals berth.

The Lady Troopers, who swept the Rising Suns in the recent Open Conference finals, took the first finals slot as early as last week with a sweep of the first five games.

Earlier, Far Eastern U recovered in the fifth set and dashed Rizal Technological U’s backdoor bid with a 25-18,25-15, 23-25, 20-25, 15-9 victory to close out its campaign at 2-4.

The Tams missed wrapping up the match in three or four as the Blue Thunder countered with back-to-back wins only to lose steam in a pressure-packed endgame. RTU, which had hoped to sweep its last two games in the double-round elims among four teams to stay in the hunt, thus bowed out of the finals race too with a 1-4 slate.

That leaves league-leading Instituto Estetico Manila (4-1) and System Tooth and Gum Care (3-1) to dispute the first-ever men’s crown in the league backed by Mikasa and Accel.

Aiza Maizo-Pontillas led Cagayan’s charge with 16 hits, including two aces, while Thai reinforcement Amporn Hyapha added 11 points, including two blocks. Saengmuang Patcharee, the other Thai import, chipped in seven while Pau Soriano and Ma. Angeli Tabaquero combined for 11 markers.

Gretchel Soltones topscored for PLDT Home Telpad with 12 hits but former MVP Sue Roces struggled with just eight smashes and Angela Benting and Ryzabelle Devanadera added six and three points, respectively.
The Tams produced 60 kills, including a combined 34-point effort from Joshua Barrica and Greg Dolor, against the Thunder’s 41 but the former still needed five sets to dispose of the Thunder.

Barrica finished with 26 hits, including four aces, while Dolor wound up with 17, including three blocks. Three other Tams churned out double-digit scores with Joel Cayaban firing 14 markers and Jeric Gacutan and Lucky Margante chipping in 11 and 10 points, apiece.

The Thunder drew 32 hits from Alnasip Laja and Abdul Jaidal but failed to sustain their fightback in the fifth with Sabtal Abdul settling for eight hits and Pathie Jamiri and Sahud Masahud finishing with six and five points, respectively.