Lady Sailors sink Dolphins, stay in V-L race

MANILA, Philippines - Navy survived scary finishes in each set before surging past Coast Guard, 25-20, 25-23, 25-21, and bouncing back into contention in the Shakey’s V-League Season 12 Reinforced Conference at The San Juan Arena yesterday.

Skipper-setter Janet Serafica produced 34 excellent sets and Lilet Mabbayad and Pau Soriano combined for  29 hits while drawing solid backup from Hezzymie Acuña, Therese Veronas, May Madulid and Pauline Genido.

The loss avenged the Lady Sailors’ four-set setback to the UP Lady Maroons last week in a match they controlled early on.

The Lady Dolphins kept the game close by pouncing on the Sailors’ errors and mishits, but the latter showed composure at endgame of each of the three sets to fashion out the straight-set victory and move to solo fourth behind joint leaders PLDT Home Ultera, Army and UP.

“We just wanted to get the win after our heartbreaking loss to UP. But it took a lot of effort, teamwork and trust in ourselves to clinch this victory,“said Mabbayad, who finished with 15 points on attacks and spiked her game with two blocks and a service ace.

Navy made up for its erratic game, marred by 34 errors, with superb court coverage behind libero Jennifer Fortuno, who accounted for 14 of the team’s 34 excellent digs, 11 more than their counterparts.

Team captain Rossan Fajardo fired nine hits while Hyrize Macabuhay and Samantha Dawson combined for 13 points for Coast Guard, which dropped to 0-2, counting its straight-set setback to PLDT last week. The Sailors now need to win at least three of their last four games to gain a crack at the fourth semis berth in the tournament presented by PLDT Home Ultera and backed by Mikasa and Accel.

Meanwhile, Army and UP clash for the lead  today at the resumption of the weekend volley festival featuring matches aired live over GMA News TV Channel 11.

The Lady Troopers and the Lady Maroons tangle at 12:45 p.m. while PLDT Home Ultera tries to gain a piece of the lead against newcomer KIA Forte at 3 p.m.