THE PETRO Gazz Angels bagged third place at the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Open Conference after completing a sweep of the Choco Mucho Flying Titans in their best-of-three series with a straight sets win in Game Two on Thursday.
Petro Gazz struggled early against Choco Mucho, which decided to rest its starters for much of the game, but when it got its footing was not to be denied the shutout win, 25-20, 25-18, 25-21, at the PCV Socio-Civic & Cultural Center in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte.
Myla Pablo once again showed the way for the Angels in the win with 17 points, followed by Grethcel Soltones with seven and Seth Rodriguez with six points.
Veteran setter Chie Saet had 15 excellent sets to go along with four points.
Angels coach Arnold Laniog said while the ultimate goal was to win a championship, still to come up with a podium finish was satisfying from their end, seeing how the players really committed from the “bubble” training all the way to the tournament itself.
“This was all worth the sacrifice and hardships that the players went through. This was a totally different experience where they were challenged not only physically, but also mentally,” Mr. Laniog said in Filipino after their Game Two win.
The third-place finish ended for Petro Gazz a campaign in the PVL bubble where it wound up fourth after the elimination round with a 6-3 record before losing to the Creamline Cool Smashers, 2-0, in their best-of-three semifinals series.
For Choco Mucho, which played its seventh straight game in as many days, it was Caitlyn Viray who top-scored with nine points, with Nicole Ebuen finishing with seven.
Starters Kat Tolentino, Bea De Leon and libero Denden Lazaro-Revilla were not fielded.
Captain Maddie Madayag, too, did not play after suffering a left knee injury in the series opener on Wednesday. Results of her MRI have yet to be made known as of this writing.
Choco Mucho finished the eliminations as the third seed with a 7-2 card and lost to the Chery Tiggo Crossovers in the semifinals.
Game Two of the best-of-three PVL Open Conference finals between Creamline and Chery Tiggo, meanwhile, was set for later on Thursday with the Cool Smashers leading the series, 1-0. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo