Home Ultera home as champs

MANILA, Philippines - Alyssa Valdez bucked a banged-up knee and powered PLDT Home Ultera to a 25-21, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21 victory over Army in a back-and-forth Game Two as the Ultra Fast Hitters bagged the Shakey’s V-League Season 12-Reinforced Conference crown via sweep before a big roaring Sunday crowd at The Arena in San Juan City.

With the match tied at 13 in the fourth, Valdez limped to the bench after hurting her right knee following a fall while trying for a dig and accidentally hitting the head of teammate Sue Roces.

But that didn’t stop her. In fact, she insisted that she be inserted back into the game.

When she returned, even the Lady Troopers failed to stop her as the power-hitting ace presided over the team’s late charge once again, ramming in a series of vicious spikes before Army’s Aby Maraño handed the crown to Home Ultera with a net violation.

“I kept asking her if she’s okay at every point. And she told me, she is,” said Home Ultera coach Roger Gorayeb of Valdez.

“Helping the team win the championship is my goal above anything else,” said Valdez, who tallied 22 points, including four aces, after a 25-hit effort in powering Home Ultera to a come-from-behind 16-25, 20-25, 26-24, 29-27, 18-16 victory in Game One. She took home the Finals MVP honors.

The one-hour, 50-minute victory, marked by a number of long rallies, superb blocking, stinging spikes, tips and dinks, also capped Home Ultera’s domination of Army and the league sponsored by Shakey’s as the Ultra Fast Hitters also edged the Lady Troopers, 2-1, to snare the Open Conference diadem early this year.

Gorayeb also completed a record personal “slam,” winning all three titles disputed in the 12th season of the league where it all started, including the Collegiate championship for National U over former team Ateneo.

“I’m thankful but I’m more concerned on giving this team another championship,” said Gorayeb.

Home Ultera also drew superb performance from import Sareea Freeman, who backed Valdez with 17 hits after a five-point effort in the opener of the title series of the season-ending conference.

She spiked her exploits with six blocks.

“That’s what she’s here for,” said Gorayeb of Freeman.

Like in the series’ opener, Gorayeb drew balanced scoring from his stellar roster with Sue Roces and Gretchel Soltones firing 10 hits apiece and Rysabelle Devanadera and import Victoria Hurtt combining for 11 points.

Setter Rubie de Leon also put in another solid performance, finishing with 28 excellent sets while chipping in four points, including two tips, while libero Lizlee Ann Pantone provided another solid floor defense for the Ultra Fast Hitters.

Maraño topscored for Army with 14 hits while Jovelyn Gonzaga, who helped key the Lady Troopers’ victory in the third set, added 13 markers and Joanne Bunag and Remy Palma came off the bench to fire nine and eight points, respectively.

With Home Ultera down, 18-19, in the fourth, Valdez took charge and blasted in three of Home Ultera’s next four points against a lone hit by Maraño then the Ultra Fast Hitters finished off their rivals by taking three of the last four points, the last courtesy of Maraño.

It was a see-saw battle right from the opening serve between the top teams in the league backed by Mikasa and Accel, with Home Ultera proving steadier in the first two sets before Army battled back from early deficits in the third before holding sway down the stretch.

Earlier, University of the Philippines primed up for the UAAP volley wars early next year by finishing third, beating Navy, 25-20, 24-26, 25-23, 25-15, to complete a sweep of their best-of-three series for third.