THE PETRON Blaze Spikers grabbed the title and a piece of history after they crushed the Shopinas Lady Clickers, 25-17, 22-25, 30-28, 25-17, in Game 2 of the best-of-three finals in the 2015 Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference women’s volleyball tournament last night at the Cuneta Astrodome.
Dindin Manabat, Aby Marano and the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, Rachel Anne Daquis, proved to be too much to handle for Shopinas as they romped off with their second straight title.
What’s even more impressive is the way Petron managed the feat as they completed a historic 13-game sweep of this prestigious inter-club tournament.
It was Petron’s second title after dominating the import-laced Grand Prix last year.
The Blaze Spikers also became the first team in league history to win all of their matches in the eliminations, semifinals and finals.
Former collegiate rivals Manabat and Marano conspired for 29 of the Blaze Spikers’ 55 total kills to finish with 18 points apiece while Daquis chipped in 16 points before riding the bench in the crucial stretch of the fourth set after a bad fall.
Frances Molina was also impressive as she added 10 points while playmaker Acy Masangkay was accounted for 17 of Petron’s 27 excellent sets.
After easily winning the first set and dropping the next, the Blaze Spikers’ 21-16 advantage evaporated as the Lady Clickers unleashed a searing run to grab a slim one-point edge, 28-27, off a middle attack by rookie Kim Dy.
But Marano unleashed a booming crosscourt running kill followed by a service ace by Maica Morado to seal the third set victory and gain enough momentum to flatten Shopinas in the fourth set.
Cruz drilled 12 kills to emerge with a team-high 13 points while Riza Mandapat and Stephanie Mercado contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively, for Shopinas, which played rusty in the series opener.
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