RC Cola goes thru wringer, takes solo lead

Games Sunday (Cuneta Astrodome)

3 p.m. – RC Cola-Air Force vs Petron (women’s)

5 p.m. – AirAsia vs Generika-Army (women’s)

7 p.m. – Systema vs Via Mare (men’s)

MANILA, Philippines - RC Cola-Air Force survived a gritty Cagayan Valley side, hacking out a tough 21-25, 25-14, 19-25, 25-19, 15-12 victory yesterday to seize the solo lead with a third straight win in the PLDT Home DSL-Philippine Superliga (PSL) All-Filipino Conference volleyball tournament at the Cuneta Astrodome.

With Joy Cases and Judy Caballejo leading the charge, the Raiders rebounded from a shaky start then fought back from a set down with a sweep of the last two frames, including the decider which they dominated with power play and superb net defense.

Cases punched in 19 kills for a total of 22 hits while Caballejo added 20 markers for RC Cola-Air Force, whose net defense in the deciding set stymied the Rising Suns’ top gun Aiza Maizo and prized rookie Janine Marciano.

“I told them that we can win this game for as long as we contain Maizo and Marciano,” said RC Cola-Air Force coach Clarence Esteban, who also drew 16 points from Iari Yongco and 13 markers from Maika Ortiz.

Later in the day, reigning champion Generika-Army snapped a two-game skid as it clipped Cignal, 26-24, 25-11, 25-22.

Rachel Daquis nailed 11 points while Jovelyn Gonzaga blasted 10 hits for the Lady Troopers, who hardly missed the services of seasoned setter Tina Salak.

“We have a new setter. We’re still adjusting,” said Army coach Rico de Guzman, whose wards nearly squandered an 11-point advantage in the third set before claiming their first win in three games.

After a poor start marred by a string of errors and token attacks, the Raiders came alive in the second set but slowed again in the third, enabling the Rising Suns to go 2-1.

But Ortiz, Caballejo and newcomer Jocemer Tapic stepped up in the fourth, combining for key hits as the Raiders racked up nine of the next points, turning a 12-14 deficit into a 21-15 lead. Back-to-back RC Cola errors, however, put Cagayan back in the game, 19-23, but Ortiz scored on a single block and Cases knocked down a vicious kill to force the decider.

The Raiders then dominated the fifth as as Cases and Ortiz combined to power the team to an 8-2 lead en route to victory.

“We started out slow. It was such a bad start. That’s why we had a hard time getting back into the game,” said Esteban. â€œBut I prepared the girls for this kind of situation. That’s why I was confident that we can pull it off.”

Maizo scored 20 kills for a game-high 23 points while Angeli Tabaquero and Pau Soriano backed her up with 14 and 12 points, respectively. 

The Rising Suns fell to sixth place with 1-4 win-loss card in the tournament supported by PLDT Home DSL and backed by Mikasa, Asics, Mueller Tapes, Jinling Sports Equipment, LGR, Bench and Healthway Medical and organized by Sports Core with Solar Sports as official broadcast partner.