Petron on high-octane fuel, goes 9-0 in Superliga

MANILA, Philippines — Mighty Petron put its firepower in full display as it nipped Cignal in only 59 minutes of action, 25-10, 25-7, 25-19, to go 9-0 in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix Saturday night at Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan City, Laguna.

The Blaze Spikers landed a league-high 16 aces to complement a searing offensive highlighted by 39 attack points – doubling Cignal’s 19 – and a tough net defense that led to seven block points en route to the runaway win.

Imports Stephanie Niemer (19) and Katherine Bell (17) were on point as always with locals Remy Palma (8), Mika Reyes (7) and Aiza Maizo Pontillas (6) providing solid scoring backup behind the heady playmaking of Rhea Dimaculangan (17 excellent sets, 4 points).

“Iniisip lang namin every training mas paghirapan pa namin at kapag nasa game na, dapat hindi maging complacent at laging focused sa goal, which is makuha yung panalo,” said Dimaculangan, who was named Best Player of the Game.

Petron’s defense held Cignal’s Erica Wilson to her tournament low seven points while fellow import Anastacia Artemeva struggled with four as the HD Spikers  dropped to 5-5 for fourth spot.

The Blaze Spikers leaned on the Bell-Niemer combo and Reyes, who fired three big aces, to clinch the first frame, then broke away from an 8-6 contest with a roaring 17-1 windup through the efforts of the power imports and Palma, for a two-set cushion and finally pulled away early in the third to seal the deal.

Petron shoots for No. 10 on Tuesday over at the Filoil Flying V Center versus streaking PLDT Home Fibr (6-4), which is fresh from a four-set reversal over second-running F2 Logistics,  while Cignal seeks to arrest its skid against United Volleyball Club (4-4) on the same day.