Upbeat UVC guns for 7th win vs PLDT

MANILA, Philippines — United Volleyball Club boosted its bid for a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals after hammering out a crucial 25-18, 25-23, 25-22 victory over slumping Foton Tuesday night in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix at Filoil Flying V Center.

Yasmeen Bedart Ghani punched in 20 points highlighted by a 19-of-41 attack efficiency while skipper Kalei Mau delivered nine hits and two aces as the UVC belles picked up their sixth win in 11 outings and stayed in good position to tab one of two remaining quarterfinal bonuses.

Alohi Robins-Hardy tossed 27 excellent sets to go with four markers as UVC emerged victorious with its other import, Tai Manu-Olevao not playing for the second straight game. Olevao is still in the US attending to personal matters.

“It’s a very crucial win for us,” said UVC coach Joshua Ylaya, whose wards moved one W behind Cignal (7-6) and PLDT (7-6) in the chase for third seed. “Our standings are pretty close going to our crucial game on Thursday (against PLDT).”

It was a bounceback triumph for UVC coming off an embarrassing five-set defeat to Generika Ayala last Saturday.

“We had a problem closing out sets. We relaxed on the crucial moments and that hit us pretty bad,” said Ylaya. “They don’t want to lose like that again.”

Milagros Collar (19) and Courtney Felinski (12) led Foton, which dropped to 1-10.