PLDT & Petron pay for their poor starts as Cagayan Valley & Army win

There’s a saying… it’s not how you start; it’s how you finish.

Philippine Super Liga clubs Petron and PLDT My-DSL will have to disagree with that.

PLDT My-DSL faced undefeated Cagayan Valley in the opener of the triple-header offering of Day Three of the Philippine Super Liga. The problem is they came out lacking fire as Nes Pamilar’s girls made mincemeat out of the opposition with simple execution and exquisite finishes.

CV had a triple threat in front with Sheila Pineda (playing her best game of the season thus far), Sandra de los Santos and Joy Benito sending PLDT’s frontline defense scrambling.

The first set was close at 4-5 for PLDT until De Los Santos took front and center. A slam dunk on Pau Soriano knotted the score after which she served superbly to give the momentum to Cagayan Valley.

On six consecutive possessions, De Los Santos served up three aces while her teammates’ floor defense allowed Pineda and Benito to score a couple of points. By the time Charmaine Moralde ended the onslaught, the score was 11-6, Cagayan Valley.

Lou Ann Latigay tried to rally her side after scoring three consecutive points but Cagayan Valley took the first two sets with relative ease 25-16 and 25-17.

PLDT finally awoke from their slumber in the third set behind the Adamson duo of Pau Soriano and Angela Benting as they made a game of it. Staring at match point for CV, 24-23, Joy Cases attack up the middle went wide giving life to PLDT.

Soriano’s spike was called just in to give PLDT the third set, 29-27, and some hope of a comeback.

In the fourth set, both squads battled it out tooth and nail to set up a furious finish. With CV leading 24-22, Moralde served and both team battled in a long rally that saw the lead cut to one when Soriano blocked De Los Santos.

Because of the long rally and thinking Cagayan Valley had just served, Soriano served forcing officials to call out the violation and giving the match point to Pamilar’s team.

A stunned and ashen-faced PLDT team looked on as they fell to their second loss after their opening day win over fancied Bingo Milyonaryo.

"If we had started well,” lamented PLDT head coach Francis Vicente. "Parang diesel engine. Ang tagal bago uminit. Ganyan kami against Bingo Milyonaryo at sa Petron. Hopefully, sa next game hindi na ganyan."

In the second match of the day’s Super Liga offerings, a Petron team, missing Maika Ortiz and Rhea Dimaculangan (who late as they came from work), took on hitherto winless Army.

With libero Marie Del Rosario struggling with her floor defense and not too many options up front, the smaller Petron team leaned heavily on Angeli Tabaquero for points. But Army keyed their defense on the former UST standout (Ortiz was also somewhat lost) and quickly took the first two sets.

Petron coach Vilet Ponce De Leon made a change in the third set when she inserted Fille Cainglet. The former Ateneo captain’s defense and digging sparked her side. When Ortiz and Dimaculangan checked into the late part of the third set, Petron caught fire. But it was a little too late as Army swept them 25-18, 25-15, and 25-19 for their first win in three outings. Petron fell to 1-2.

"We took advantage right away kasi alam namin na kulang sila,” said Army coach Rico De Guzman.

"If we had everyone at the start of the game then maybe it might have ended differently,” rued Ponce De Leon.