BanKo Perlas breaks into win column

MANILA, Philippines — BanKo Perlas needed to tighten its net defense in the final two sets as it turned back Bali Pure, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 25-16, yesterday to claim its first win in the Season Three of the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at the Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Katherine Bersola had six blocks while American Kia Bright had four as the Perlas Spikers finished with a total of 15 blocks in registering their first victory after dropping their first game to the league-leading PetroGazz Angels, 19-25, 21-25, 12-25, Wednesday.

Bright ended up leading the team with 16 points while Bersola, a former University of the Philippines standout, scattered 15, but it was their intimidating presence at the net particularly in the last two sets that spelled the biggest difference.

Nicole Tiamzon wound up contributing 13 hits while Turkish Yasemin Sahin Yldirim chipped in 11.

BanKo Perlas team captain Tiamzon thinks they are slowly but surely making significant strides.

In the second game, Pacifictown Army edged Motolite, 25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 25-21, to improve to 2-1.

The Power Builders fell to their first defeat.

“We’re definitely improving and taking it a set at a time,” said Tiamzon, speaking in behalf of Thai coach Apichat Kongsowat, in Filipino.