SAN JUAN, MM--Bali Pure continued to roll on the 13th Shakey's V-League Open Conference Volleyball tournament as it notched its fourth straight win with a sweep over Laoag in straight sets. 28-26; 25-23; 25-17, at FilOil Flying V Centre on Wednesday.
The Purest Water Defenders survived a late scare from Laoag in the first two sets, before catching fire in the third as it gained a solo second place with a 4-1 record and were assured of a playoff berth with two games to spare.
Gretchel Sontones also came up big as she tallied 11 points while Mae Tajima and Dzi Gervacio recorded eight points each for the Purest Water Defenders.
Laoag, which pulled out all of its starting players in the third set, went down to below .500 at 2-3.
Alyssa Valdez was on her usual self again, leading Bali Pure in scoring as she finished with 20 points and 10 digs.
Bali Pure did not only lived up with its monicker but displayed an absolute performance en route to the win.
Both teams traded point after point before Valdez hit two consecutive attacks to give Bali Pure the first set, 28-26.
The Purest Water Defenders dominated every cylinder of the game, connecting more attacks and blocks than Laoag, and recording more aces but fewer errors.
Bali Pure held a five-point lead late in the first set, 23-18, but the Power Smasher did not gave up and blasted a 6-0 run to steal the the lead, 24-23.
It was a back-and-forth match one again in the second set but the errors committed by Laoag did damage on their side, allowing the Purest Water Defenders to prevail, 25-23.
Pamilar told during the third set that he was frustrated with the players' lack of trust with each other that they were afraid to dive for the ball and attack more.
Things became heated during the last play of the second set when the first referee overturned his original call that would make it 24-all after the linesmen cleared that Laoag's Jovielyn Prado's attack hit the antenna.
Laoag's head coach Nes Pamilar had some words with the referee after the call, and then decided to pull out all her starting lineup in the third set in what could be a sign of a protest.
Without a much problem to deal for against the opposing side, Bali Pure rose to a 14-7 lead early before taking the match for their fourth win on the spin after dropping their opener to Air Force.
Prado led the Power Smashers with eight points.
.jpg)
