Foton humbles Meralco, but both advance to QF

MANILA, Philippines - Foton Tornadoes turned back tough Meralco in three, 21-14, 15-21, 17-15, to top Pool C of the PLDT Home Ultera-Philippine Superliga (PSL) Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup 2015 on a rainy and windy Saturday night at the Sands By the Bay in SM Mall of Asia.

Foton pair Fiola Ceballos and Patty Orendain recovered from a second-set meltdown to overcome the challenge of Meralco’s Jem Gutierrez and Jusabelle Brillo and post their second straight victory in pool play. Meralco finished with 1-1 but joined Foton as the group’s qualifiers to the knockout quarterfinals.

“The strong winds made it difficult for us, sending our sets often crossed over the net. So what we did was lower our sets and execute quick plays,” said Ceballos in Filipino.

Meralco got on the hill first at 14-13 but Ceballos quickly leveled the count with a hit then Foton took a 15-14 margin off an attacking error by Brillo.

Gutierrez tied it once more at 15 before Ceballos, an accomplished player in beach volley, punched in back-to-back kills to clinch it for Foton.

Meanwhile, Gilligan’s Danika Gendrauli and Jane Diaz bucked a hard-earned 18-21, 21-17, 15-9 victory over Fille Cayetano and Alexa Micek of Petron Sprint 4T and take Pool D’s second and last quarterfinal berth.

“It was difficult because we both had our monthly periods this day. We really had to be extra persistent and constantly communicate on the sandcourt,” said Gendrauli.

Gilligan’s rattled off six straight points spiked by three aces from Gendrauli to seize a 12-5 cushion in the decider and never let up.

Gendrauli and Diaz ended group play at second with 2-1.

Bea Tan and Pau Soriano of Foton Hurricane (also 2-1) topped the pool and led the march to the Last-8 despite absorbing 25-23, 21-14 defeat to Cha Cruz and Micmic Laborte of Cignal HD Spikers A in their last game. Cignal HD bowed out with a 1-2 record and was relegated to the classification phase.

Amy’s Samantha Dawson and Marleen Cortel drubbed Aileen Abuel and Rossan Fajardo of Philips Gold, 21-18, 21-12, to get the No. 1 spot in Pool A. Philips Gold (1-1) also advanced to the quarters.

Also booking trips to the Last-8 were Pool B entries April Ross Hingpit and Wensh Tiu of Cignal HD Spikers B (2-0) and Gretchen Ho and Charo Soriano of Petron XCS (1-1)

The event is organized by Sports Core with Accel as official outfitter, Sands By the Bay as venue partner and Maynilad as official water provider. Games are aired live over TV 5.