Angels buck Flying Titans’ gritty stand

Games Saturday

4 p.m. – Chef’s Classic vs PacificTown Army

6 p.m. – BaliPure vs Creamline

MANILA, Philippines — Unable to finish off Choco Mucho in three or four, PetroGazz used its superb blocking in the deciding set to pull off a 25-22, 25-15, 19-25, 20-25, 15-3 victory and enhance its drive in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan yesterday.

Meanwhile, Creamline moved a victory away from sweeping the first round, outsteadying PacificTown Army in three tightly-fought sets, including two that went over the distance, 25-23, 28-26, 26-24, to pull away from the pack.

The Angels took the first four points off kill blocks, including three on Choco Mucho top hitter Kat Tolentino, in the fifth set and went on to dominate their young rivals to turn what had appeared to be a down-to-the-wire finish into an anti-climactic ending.

Thanks to Jeanette Panaga, Cai Baloaloa, Cherry Nunag, Paneng Mercado, and Jovielyn Prado, who manned the net in the decider with authority, foiling Tolentino’s hit one after the other, the Angels racked up the next four points to go 8-0 on a Jonah Sabete left-handed hit at changeover.

The Flying Titans broke that spell not on their merit but on a Prado service miscue, and the recently-crowned Reinforced Conference champions took seven of the next nine points to wrap it all up.

The victory extended PetroGazz’s win run to three for an overall 4-2 card in a tie with BanKo-Perlas while dealing Choco Mucho its third straight defeat after going 2-1 in its first three matches in its debut stint in the league organized by Sports Vision.