Systema rallies to beat Instituto, nears V-League men’s crown

Games Tuesday

(The Arena, San Juan)

2 p.m. – FEU vs RTU (m)

4 p.m. – PLDT vs Meralco (w)

MANILA, Philippines – Systema Tooth and Gum Care tightened its defense as it came back from two sets down to escape with a come-from-behind 21-25, 23-25, 25-19, 25-23, 16-14 victory Sunday to move one win away from becoming the first men's champion of the Shakey's V-League Season 11 at The Arena in San Juan City.

Patrick John Rojas and Angelo Espiritu led the Active Smashers with 15 hits apiece but it was the duo of Rocky Honrade and Chris Macasaet who fired up the defense by combining for a whopping nine blocks to go one up in their best-of-three championship series.

Game Two is on Sunday while a decider, if necessary, is on Nov. 16.

"The key was our blocking," said Systema coach Arnoled Laniog in Filipino.

Down 13-14, Instituto's Rennz Ordonez was assessed with net interference to allow Systema to tie before a Honrade block and an Espiritu service ace sealed the deal for latter, a team skippered by popular actor Richard Gomez.

It was Systema's first win over Instituto after the latter swept the former in their two elimination round game.

Karl Ian dela Calzada led the attack with 20 hits, including 18 on kills, but his team had no answer to Systema's rock-solid defense up front.

Meanwhile, Instituto Estetico Manila's Jeffrey Jimenez and Cagayan Valley's Aiza Maizo-Pontillas took MVP honors in simple awarding rites earlier.

It was the 26-year-old Maizo's second conference MVP after snaring the award five seasons ago when she was still playing for the Santo Tomas Lady Tigresses.

For Jimenez, he became the first men's MVP winner as the V-League holds its first ever men's division.

"Happy to finally get to play in the V-League and happier that I was awarded MVP," said the 27-year-old Jimenez, who played college ball for PATTS, an aeronautic school.