Games Thursday
9 a.m. – Cagayan vs Air Force
11 a.m. – Cignal vs Instituto
Standings W L
Cagayan 3 0
Air Force 1 0
PLDT 2 1
Army 2 1
Champion 1 1
Instituto 0 1
Cignal 0 2
Cavite 0 3
PRESS RELEASE
Cagayan Valley recovered in time and foiled PLDT Home Ultera comeback bid, hacking out a 25-20, 26-24, 12-25, 22-25, 15-10 victory grab the solo lead in the Spikers Turf Season 1 Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan City Tuesday.
Former rivals-turned-teammates Rex Intal and Marck Espejo of Ateneo and National University’s Peter Torres and Jan Berlin Paglinawan combined in the fifth as the Rising Suns checked their impending skid to stretch their win run to three in the league presented by PLDT Home Ultera.
Intal had a team-best 17 hits, highlighted by a season-best seven blocks, while Espejo and Torres each shot 15 points and Paglinawan unloaded 14 markers.
“They have adjusted well to their respective games and to the (team) system,” said Cagayan coach Nes Pamilar, referring to Intal, Espejo, Torres and Paglinawan, who clashed in the last UAAP volley finals won by the Eagles.
Intal, Espejo and Torres, members of the National Under-23 and Southeast Asian Games teams, won it against Johnvic de Guzman and Mark Gil Alfafara, who are from the former national team named “Bagwis.”
De Guzman and Alfafara, who recently begged off from national team duties to focus on PLDT and Bagwis, spearheaded the UItra Fast Spikers with 18 and 16 hits but were outplayed in the end by Intal, Espejo and Torres.
PLDT fell to joint second with Army, which scored a 25-18, 25-17, 25-21 victory over Cavite-Fourbees, at 2-1.
Greg Dolor, who has recently agreed to play for the Phl team, paced the Troopers with 15 points, including 12 on kills.
The Patriots fell to their third straight defeat in the inaugural event backed by Mikasa and organized by Sports Vision.
Meanwhile, the Army-Cavite match will be shown on PTV 4 at 10:30 tonight (Wednesday) while the Cagayan-PLDT duel will be aired tomorrow.
