Lady Troopers survive Valdez-less Lady Ultrafast Spikers

MANILA, Philippines -- Army survived a late fightback by fierce rival PLDT Home Ultera to eke out a 25-23, 23-25, 25-11, 19-25, 15-13 victory Sunday and jump to a share of the lead with University of the Philippines in the Shakey's V-League Season 12-Reinforced Conference at The Arena in San Juan City.

Abi Marano fired 18 hits while Jovelyn Gonzaga, Honey Royse Tubino and Nene Bautista scattered 16, 16 and 12 points, respectively, to seal the Lady Troopers their second straight win.

Gonzaga shone the brightest by hitting the shots that mattered in the fifth and deciding set including a kill that sealed it.

Army though nearly blew it as it it led by as big as five points twice, the last at 9-4, only to watch PLDT rally its way back to knot it at 11-all.

But a Rubie de Leon error and a pair of kills by the power-spiking Tubino and Gonzaga put the Lady Troopers in match point, 14-11.

De Leon, a brief breather, set up Gretchen Soltones for a crisp kill that connected and Army setter Tina Salak was called for overreaching, allowing PLDT to stay alive and cut it to just a 13-14 deficit.

And then Gonzaga sealed the Lady Ultrafast Spikers' doom with a booming kill.

"The players just showed composure in the fifth set and didn't panic," said Kungfu Reyes, Army's new coach.

PLDT, which was still playing without its best player Alyssa Valdez due to an upper back injruy, fell to its first defeat against a win.