BY ABBY TORALBA
DEFENDING champion Petro Gazz overcame erstwhile unbeaten Cignal, eking out a 25-14, 25-21, 25-27, 25-19 victory yesterday in the PVL Reinforced Conference at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
Although the Angels prevailed, the HD Spikers gained a finals slot due to a superior set ratio.
American import Lindsey Vander Weide poured in 30 points for Petro Gazz, while middle blocker MJ Phillips and opposite hitter Aiza Maizo-Pontillas provided 13 and 10 markers, respectively.
“We’ll take it na rin kasi nanalo kami. Sayang pero, tutal, iyong win naman talaga iyong habol so tignan nalang natin iyong factor sa three-way tie,” Angels coach Rald Ricafort said.
“At least, trinabaho pa rin naman namin. Mataas iyong expectations. Pinag-usapan (namin) na kailangan straight sets. Hindi man namin nakuha, at least panalo pa rin so,” he added.
Petro Gazz came off a 25-20, 25-17, 25-16 triumph over Chery Tiggo three days ago.
American reinforcement Tai Bierria paced Cignal with 15 markers, while Ria Meneses had eight points.
The HD Spikers failed to score a big follow-up to a 23-25, 25-23, 28-26, 25-18 win over Creamline last Sunday.
With the result, both the Angels and the HD Spikers ended the semis with an identical 2-1 records.
