Petron coach not thinking about another PSL sweep

MANILA, Philippines – For Petron coach Shaq Delos Santos, talks about their looming sweep of the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference is a bit premature.

Delos Santos brushed off speculations that they are out for another sweep, saying that it’s still too early to say and their main focused is how to overcome Cignal in their semifinal battle.

Sweeping the tournament is nothing new to Delos Santos.

He served as assistant of George Pascua when the Blaze Spikers roared to 13 straight wins en route to clinching the All-Filipino crown in 2015.

They had a very solid team built around Dindin Manabat, Aby Marano and Rachel Anne Daquis, who emerged as Most Valuable Player.

The supporting crew was equally strong with Acy Masangkay, Mina Aganon, Maica Morada, Mayette Zapanta, Fille Cayetano, Frances Molina, Alexa Micek, Ivy Perez, Ana del Mundo and Jen Reyes manning the backline.

That squad was so dominant that it lost only six sets the entire eliminations with four sets coming from five-set conquests of Shopinas and Mane N’ Tail.

In the semifinals, the creamed Philips Gold in straight sets before notching another straight-set win over Shopinas in Game 1 of the best-of-three finals.

Although they lost the third set, 28-30, of Game Two, the Blaze Spikers quickly recovered to win the crown and formally complete the sweep.

The magical season remains fresh from Delos Santos’ memory, but he doesn’t want to speculate, or even comment, about the possibility of doing it again.

“Sweep? It’s still a long way to go,” said Delos Santos, trying his best to brush off the speculations during the PSL Christmas Party Monday at Club Filipino in Greenhills.

“We’re not thinking about it. We just want to play and be competitive.”

This conference, Petron displayed traces of its old self.

In its 10 matches in the preliminaries, the Blaze Spikers lost only three sets — one to F2 Logistics and two to Foton.

Then, it displayed a glimpse of its power and dominance as it destroyed Sta. Lucia in the quarterfinals, 25-12, 25-14, 25-16, to gain a twice-to-beat edge against Cignal in the semifinals.

Still, Delos Santos believes that a lot of things could happen.

“It isn’t over,” he said before disappearing into the crowd.