Antipolo City – Reigning champion Petron raced to its eighth straight win after making short work of Sta. Lucia, 25-13, 25-10, 25-13, in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference Tuesday at the Ynares Center here.
Sisi Rondina was back to her big-scoring ways to lead the Blaze Spikers past the struggling Lady Realtors entering the crucial stretch of this prestigious women’s club tournament bankrolled by Team Rebel Sports, SOGO, Eurotel, PCSO, Cocolife, UCPB Gen, Mueller, Senoh, Asics, Bizooku and One Sport.
Rondina unleashed 18 kills, two blocks and two aces to finish with 22 points and seven digs for the Blaze Spikers, who are tipped to go all out to defend their crown in this tourney that also has ESPN and Kapatid TV5 as broadcast partners.
Ces Molina and Remy Palma were also instrumental with seven and six points, respectively, while Bernadeth Pons had five markers and seven digs for Petron, which missed the services of Mika Reyes.
“I’m happy and satisfied with the win. We showed another great performance but we have to work harder so we could sustain our momentum for our succeeding matches,” said Petron head coach Shaq Delos Santos, who captured their 10th win in 11 matches.
If Petron stayed at No.2 while Sta. Lucia continued to reel at seventh place in the end of the preliminary, they will clash anew in the knockout quarterfinals.
“With our standings right now, we might face them again in the quarterfinals. We have to prepare well for that. But for now we need to focus on our last three preliminary matches,” Delos Santos said.
Petron dominated at the attack zone with 38 kills while limiting Sta. Lucia to just 16. The Blaze Spikers also fired eight aces unlike the Lady Realtors, who failed to score a single ace and gave up 21 errors.
Filipino-American spiker MJ Phillips had to return in the United States due to family reason while reserve spiker Jasmine Alcayde was activated.
Rachel Austero and Amanda Villanueva delivered seven points apiece for the Lady Realtors, who dropped to 2-11.