Farm Fresh outfoxes Cignal

MANILA, Philippines — Farm Fresh waylaid a short-handed Cignal, 25-19, 25-20, 25-16, yesterday to continue its strong start in the PVL Reinforced Conference at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Trisha Tubu carried most of the load with a match-best 21 points, 19 of which coming off attacks and two off blocks, as the Foxies registered their finest start in franchise history.

The win sent the Frank Lao-owned franchise atop Pool A.

“This is our strongest start, that’s why we’re happy,” said the athletic, power-hitting Tubu.

Helene Rousseaux slowed down after erupting for a conference-high 38 points in a 22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-21 win over Nxled a week ago in Dasmariñas City, chipping in 17 hits on this one.

But the prolific Belgian spiker didn’t need to score that much, thanks to Tubu taking charge all game.

“We were relaxed entering the game, that’s why we also played relaxed inside the court,” said Tubu.

The Super Spikers suffered their second straight defeat with the team stymied by the absence of Vannie Gandler (minor injury) and coach Shaq delos Santos (under the weather).

In the second game, Capital1 rode high on a conference-high 39-point effort by Sasha Bytsenko as it repulsed Nxled, 25-20, 23-25, 27-25, 25-12, for its first triumph in two starts.

Bytsenko’s effort erased the previous conference best of 38 scored by Rousseaux and came six points shy of matching the league record of 46 set by another Capital1 import Marina Tushova in this same conference a season ago.

“We played like a team, I felt the energy,” said Bytsenko.

The Chameleons stumbled to 0-2.