MANILA, Philippines — BanKo-Perlas overpowered Tacloban in a duel of teams riding the momentum of a big finish in the eliminations, scoring a 25-22, 25-20, 25-18 triumph yesterday at the start of the quarterfinal round of the Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Reinforced Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.
Import Kia Bright blasted in 17 attack points and spiked her 19-hit game with 16 digs and eight excellent receptions while Thai reinforcement Jutarat Montripila hammered in 12 kills and finished with 13 markers for the Perlas Spikers, who also came into the match keen on avenging their four-set setback to the Fighting Warays in the elims.
“They really wanted to get back at Tacloban. And it’s the quarterfinals so this is a good start,” said BanKo-Perlas coach Dong dela Cruz, who also drew 10 points from Nicole Tiamzon.
The top two in the six-team field after the single round phase will join outright qualifiers Creamline and PayMaya in the Final Four.
BanKo-Perlas and Tacloban closed out their elims campaigns with back-to-back victories but the former jumped the gun on the latter early and never gave the Fighting Warays chance to recover with sustained attack and superb floor defense and reception all the way to the finish.
Thai Hyapha Amporn scored 12 points and Jovielyn Prado added nine markers but veteran reinforcement Patcharee Saengmuang struggled for seven points for the Fighting Warays.
Earlier, PLDT pulled through in an extended second set thriller then bounced back from a sorry setback in the third with a big win in the fourth as it hacked out a 25-20, 27-25, 23-25, 25-20 victory over Instituto Estetico Manila to likewise bolster its own Final Four drive in men’s play.
BaliPure also avenged its elims defeat to Iriga-Navy, rallying from 1-2 set down and carving out a 25-17, 18-25, 20-25, 26-24, 18-16 decision.
Import Janisa Johnson fired 27 hits, including 23 kills, to spearhead the Water Defenders’ come-from-behind victory.
Later in the night, defending champion Pocari Sweat-Air Force yielded the first set but went on to crush Petro Gazz, 18-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-21, to join BanKo-Perlas and BaliPure in the win column.