Air Force nears Spikers' Turf title

MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine Air Force leaned on its balanced attack as it downed Cignal HD TV, 25-15, 19-25, 25-19, 25-19, Saturday to move on the crest of copping the Spikers' Turf Season 1-Collegiate Conference title at The Arena in San Juan City.

Raiders coach Rhovyl Verayo decided to rely on a compact six-man rotation headed by the power-spiking Jeffry Malabanan, who led his team with 17 points, in taking Game One that gave them a 1-0 edge in their best-of-three title showdown.

Rodolfo Labrador, Reyson Fuentes, Ruben Inaudito and Edwin Tolentino took turns with Malabanan in combining for 41 points, practically the whole production of the soaring Air Force.

Aside from the setter and libero Raffy Mosuela,  Verayo used only two other players--Mike Abria and Pitrus de Ocampo--and rode on his top players in seizing the win.

"We decided to go with our main guys because they've been playing well the whole conference," said Verayo.

The Raiders will have a chance to wrap it all up as they go straight for the jugular on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

A deciding Game Three, if necessary, is set on Dec. 5.

"Hopefully," said Verayo.

While Air Force employed a select few, the HD Spikers had to dig deep from their bench headed by Edmar Bonono and Lorenzo Capate, Jr., who unloaded a combined 30 points.

It was not enough though to slow down a rampaging Air Force side, which moved on the cusp of making history and becoming the league's first ever Reinforced Conference.

Earlier, PLDT Home Ultera overcame a fiesty Navy and carved out a 25-14, 25-22, 23-25, 25-19 victory to move on the verge of clinching third place.

Mark Gil Alfafara led the way with 20 hits including 17 on kills while Kheeno Franco, Henry James Peca-A and Jayson Ramos contributed 17, 12 and 10, respectively, in helping the Ultrafast Spikers gain a 1-0 edge in their best-of-three series.

Razzel Palisoc and Nur Amin Madsairi paced the Sailors with 16 and 12 points.