By NIKOLE JAVIER
Petro Gazz continued its winning ways and dominated Cignal with a straight-set victory 28-26, 25-18, 25-13 in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference on Saturday, Feb. 18, at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
The Angels managed to keep the HD Spikers at bay in their tight first-set duel, setting the tone for the victory that further asserted their mastery over their Reinforced Conference finals rival with now a 4-0 head-to-head record.
Remy Palma delivered 15 points built on 10 attacks, four blocks and an ace to lead the Angels to their second straight win after their opening game stumble last Feb. 4.
Grethcel Soltones, for her part, added 14 points off 13 attacks and a block.
Coming off a 5-all deadlock in the third set, Petro Gazz went on a determined 9-2 run before racing to a 16-8 advantage that kept Cignal’s morale low.
From then on, the Angels would go on to stomp the HD Spikers further into the ground for a double-digit lead, 23-13, before Rachel Daquis and Ria Meneses committed back-to-back errors that ended the match.
"Well, morale boost to para sa amin. Big teams nauna namin . So sabi ko sa kanila you have to get one game at a time. And they did it before, they can do it again. It's them," said Petro Gazz head coach Oliver Almadro.
Ces Molina was the lone bright spot for the HD Spikers with an 11-point outing as they fell into a 1-3 hole in the standings.