By Ricky Manliguis
SAN
JUAN—Petron banked on the solid import tandem of Lindsay Stalzer and Hillary
Hurley to fashion out a convincing 25-13,25-17,25-19 win over Generika-Ayala
and open up festivities of the 2017 Chooks To Go Philippine Superliga (PSL)
Grand Prix at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
Back for another tour of duty in
the country, Stalzer teamed up with fellow American Hurley in a strong second
and third frames to give the Blaze Spikers the headstart in just 75 minutes.
Hurley, a vetran campaigner in the international circuit, finished with a game-high 18 points spiked on 15 attacks while Stalzer, who
starred in Foton’s back-to-back GP titles, tallied 14 points, all on the
offensive side.
The local
crew also stepped up on the defensive end, with middle blockers Mika Reyes and
Ria Meneses accounting for six of Petron’s 12 rejections.
After a
13-all second set, Hurley and Stalzer spearheaded an 8-2 blitz for a 21-15 lead
and take the frame. The Lifesavers then went alive in the third, but Petron
rallied and even took a 22-16 advantage, before Meneses foiled an attack from
Croatian import Katerina Pelipic for the victory.
“Sobrang happy kasi lahat nag-deliver,”
said Petron coach Shaq Delos Santos in the post-game interview.
“Honestly, madami pa din kaming inaayos,
madami pa din kaming kailangan i-improve. But the good thing is kung sino man
ang ipasok namin – be it imports or local players – talagang nagde-deliver. So
okay sila. I’m happy with our performance today.”
Pelipic paced Generika-Ayala with 14
markers on 12 spikes while Trinidad and Tobago’s Darlene Ramdin accounted for
nine. They will next face the Cocolife Asset Managers on Tuesday, Oct. 24.
The PSL Grand Prix is also sponsored by Cignal, Mikasa, Senoh, Mueller, Grand Sport, Rebisco, Island Rose, Cloudfone, UCPB Gen and Asics.
Follow him on Twitter: @Teaching_Hero
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