Blaze Spikers charge back, force do-or-die

MANILA, Philippines — Stung by F2 Logistics Tuesday, Petron showed its true might last night, overcoming an early slip with a scrambling and imposing victories in the next two sets then sustained its charge in the fourth to fashion out a 23-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-19 victory and force a winner-take-all for the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix crown at the packed Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

Kath Bell fired 25 hits while Steph Niemer put in another solid outing after her 20-point effort in Game One, spearheading the Blaze Spikers’ attack that set up what promises to be a classic ending to the best-of-three series.

The do-or-die match is set at 6 p.m. tomorrow, also at the San Juan venue.

The Blaze Spikers also showed the championship poise lacking in their 20-25, 25-16, 23-25, 23-25 loss in Game One while pouncing on a series of F2 miscues in the last two sets to pound out the victory.

Aby Maraño best typified the Cargo Movers’ erratic game as she served long after Lindsay Stalzer put the team back in the hunt with a  hit for a 19-24 count, enabling the Blaze Spikers to complete the four-set triumph.

“We stayed cool and collected,” said Bell, referring to their big rebound after dropping the opening set. “But we hope to get better on Saturday.”

The game appeared headed to the way it did in the series opener when they split the first two sets and the Cargo Movers went on to sweep the next two and the match, moving a win from claiming the franchise’s fourth championship.

But the Blaze Spikers changed the script and could even emerge the stars in the end.

After dropping the opening set and taking the next, the defending champions turned a tight third-set duel to a runaway win as they picked up points from Niemer and Bell’s hits and F2’s series of unforced errors, including a couple of Perez’s attacks that went long.

The Cargo Movers did try to regroup in the fourth, battling the Blaze Spikers to two deadlocks before the latter re-asserted their might – aided again by the former’s miscues – and headed to the first change over enjoying an 8-2 bulge.

MJ Perez, who scored the last three points to cap F2’s victory the other night, snapped the hitting spell for the Cargo Movers but the Blaze Spikers had already built the momentum and kept a safe distance until Stalzer scored on another hit that made it 14-17.

But a Bell ace coupled with F2’s two errors gave the Blaze Spikers another five-point cushion at 20-15 and held sway until Maraño handed them the victory with that service miscue.