Tornadoes ram past Raiders

MANILA, Philippines - Foton pounced on RC Cola-Air Force’s poor defense and reception, scoring a convincing 25-14, 25-13, 26-16 victory yesterday in the 2015 Philippine Superliga (PSL) Grand Prix women’s volleyball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.

Relying on their powerful frontcourt hitters, the Tornadoes dominated from start to finish en route to victory in the inter-club tourney presented by Asics and backed by Milo with Mikasa, Senoh and Mueller as technical partners and TV5 as official broadcaster.

American reinforcement Lindsay Stalzer led Foton’s charge with 13 kills for a total of 15 points while Jaja Santiago finished with nine hits, three aces and two blocks for a 14-hit effort.

Foton also lorded it over RC-Cola in blocking, service and spiking departments while cashing in on RC Cola-Air Force’s 23 turnovers to fashion out the win for a 2-3 card.

“We already learned from our previous mistakes,” said assistant coach Ian Fernandez, who took over the helm from head coach Villet Ponce-de Leon who was out to attend a pressing matter.

“That’s why we had a meeting and we decided that there should be more consistency and quality in our plays. It’s about time to get our acts together and make a statement game.”

While Foton moved to fourth, RC-Cola dropped to 1-4, just one game ahead of Meralco, which lost all its first five games.

With Stalzer waxing hot and her counterpart in Puerto Rican Lynda Morales suddenly blowing cold, the Tornadoes dominated the game early on to post the most lopsided match of the conference.

Morales, an active member of the Puerto Rican national team, struggled with only six kills for a total of nine points while Sara McClinton and Maika Ortiz had seven points apiece for the Raiders.