Cagayan neutralizes Smart, grabs solo lead in V-League

MANILA, Philippines - Cagayan shut down Smart's vaunted attacking game as it carved out a 25-23, 26-24, 25-20 victory to seize the solo lead in the Shakey’s V-League Season 10 Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan City Tuesday.

Maria Angeli Tabaquero showed why she's the league's best spiker and fired away with 15 hits while Thai import Kannika Tipachot, Aiza Maizo and Wenneth Eulalio scattered 14, 13 and 11, respectively, in a superb display firepower by the Rising Suns.

It was Cagayan's net defense, however, that spelled the biggest difference as it took Smart's open spikers out of their comfort zone.

Sue Roces and Gretchel Soltones, who averaged 15.7 and 13 going into this game, were held to just a combined 13 on this one, no thanks to a rock-solid defense up front by Cagayan that centered on stopping the pair of crisp spikers.

"Our game plan was to really deny their open spikers, which we did successfully in this game," said Cagayan coach Nes Pamilar in Filipino.

Maruja Banaticla, a Santo Tomas standout, was the lone bright spot for Smart as she pummeled her way to 15 hits, 12 on kills.

The win, its second after Thursday's 25-22, 17-25, 25-14, 25-19 win over Phl Air Force, sent Cagayan from joint second with idle Army (1-0) to solo first.

It was, in contrast, the first loss by the Net Spikers, who zoomed to the top after stringing together three straight triumphs including a 22-25, 25-20, 25-20, 27-25 win over the Meralco Power Spikers, their sister team, last Sunday.

It didn't help that Smart played with only eight players as Ateneo standout Alyssa Valdez and reigning UAAP MVP Dindin Santiago of National U sat out for the fourth straight game.

Valdez will get to suit up only after the 76th UAAP beach volley tournament, perhaps midway September, while Santiago will get to play for Smart only during Sundays because of her heavy academic load.

After snatching the first set, Cagayan's defense softened, allowing Smart to open up a 22-18 lead on the strength of Banaticla and Charo Soriano's constant pounding.

But the power-hitting Tipachot stepped up big, scoring seven of her team's final eight points to seize the second set and a comfortable 2-0 lead.

It was Tabaquero's turn to shine in the third as she unleashed missile-like kills one after the other to take the fight out of their undermanned foes.

And Pamilar said he expects the team to improve due to the arrival of Pau Soriano, a former Adamson standout who joined the team only less than a week back.

"Except for Pau (Soriano), who joined us just several days back, Soraya (Phomia) is familiar with everyone," said Pamilar.

Setter Phomia is Cagayan's second Thai reinforcement.