Philippine Super Liga opens: Cignal, PLDT MyDSL and Cagayan Valley prevail

Games on Wednesday, July 10 (San Juan Arena)

2:00PM Cignal HD (1-0) vs. TMS-Philippine Army (0-1)

4:00PM Cagayan Valley (1-0) vs. Bingo Milyonaryo (0-1)

6:00PM (not televised) PLDT MyDSL (1-0) vs. Petron (0-1)

Television airing begins at 4:00PM on Solar Sports

Six teams with male escorts, a party atmosphere, a hydraulic lift under the stage and great volleyball action punctuated the lavish opening ceremonies of the first ever women’s club league in the country as a packed PhilSports Arena in Pasig City once again became part of history when the Philippine Super Liga (PSL) finally got underway.

“We’ve been preparing for this league for months,” said PSL President Ramon “Tats” Suzara during the festive rites. “Today, it finally becomes a reality.”

A DJ atop a ten foot high stage turned the venue into a dance party as the participating squads pranced their way onto the center of the court, took in speeches from the league’s special guests and transmitted the whole experience via social networks as finally a league that caters to players who have fulfilled their collegiate obligations has finally arrived.

Highlighting the pageantry was the unveiling of the six spokesmodels of the PSL in Cagayan Valley’s Jheck Dionela, Petron’s Angeli Tabaquero, Bingo Milyonaryo’s Michele Gumabao, the Philippine Army’s Mayeth Carolino, Cignal’s Venus Bernal and PLDT MyDSL’s Lou Ann Latigay as they emerged via a hydraulic lift to the cheers of the thousands in attendance—many of whom lined up for the free admission tickets as early as eight in the morning.

Interim Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) President Carl Chan then officially opened the games, but not before bestowing a bit of trivia for all present.

“In 1910, volleyball found its way to the Philippines,” Chan announced. “In 1917, we made an innovation to the game by introducing the set and spike which eventually led to the ‘three touch rule’. Yes, the Philippines has made its own contribution to the sport and today we make history once again.”

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Asian Volleyball Confederation (AC) Vice President Shanrit Wongprasert was the special Guest-Of-Honor of the PSL through the auspices of the PVF and rendered an inspirational message encouraging the players to keep striving to improve so that one day the Philippines may once again be a competitive member of Asian volleyball.

Once the smoke cleared, it was time to usher in the first ever PSL match as crowd-favorite Petron: boasting of the top players from UST and Ateneo (with newly acquired Melissa Gohing being the only DLSU player on the squad) took on Cignal HD, led by the veteran duo of Venus Bernal and Michelle Datuin with superstar libero Jen Reyes.

Petron went on an early rampage as the incursions of former Tigresses Tabaquero and Aiza Maizo-Pontillas wreaked havoc against the slow frontline defense of the HD Spikers (Team Cignal’s moniker). However, Cignal began chipping away at the deficit as the surprise Cebuano duo of Danika Gendrauli and Rap-Rap Aguilar frequently connected with young setter Arianne Argarin. Bernal joined the fray as Cignal came from behind to snatch the first set 25-22.

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After that, no amount of line-up shuffling by Petron’s rookie Head Coach Vilet Ponce de Leon could stop the Gendrauli-Aguilar-Bernal juggernaut as the second set became easy pickings for the HD Spikers, 25-17. In the third set, Maizo-Pontillas began an uprising, complimented by the superb net play former queen eagle Charo Soriano. But new recruit (after she said she wasn’t playing) Honey Royce Tubino executed on her own offense allowing Cignal to close out the Lady Blazers in straight sets, winning the third 25-23.

Despite the offensive prowess displayed by Bernal, Gendrauli and Tubino, the Player of the Game was awarded to Argarin; perhaps in a show of instant maturity and great poise to get the job done despite being the less favoured team by the pro-Petron audience.

In the second match, I finally got to broadcast my first ever PSL tiff when the talent-laden PLDT MyDSL Super Boosters took on the “Puffins”—yes, that is their moniker—of Bingo Milyonaryo; featuring a higly anticipated side battle between two of the best liberos of all-time in Bingo Milyonaryo’s Sher Peñano and PLDT MyDSL's Lizlee Ann Gata-Pantone.

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Well, both liberos never quite got into the flow of the game—perhaps due to adjustments in finally playing before a LIVE audience again. Reception became a problem for both squads as the first set saw a spate of errors hounding both contenders. The Puffins took the early initiative with Gumabao scoring five points in the beginning of the first set, but then former Adamson queen falcon Pau Soriano began hooking up consistently with former college teammate May Macatuno and at the set’s twilight, everything was still in the balance. Mic-Mic Laborte then began turning her vaunted defense into offense as the Puffins survived to take it 25-22.

That was the last time we heard from them.

With the exception of Laborte and the feisty Iris Ortega-Patrona, none of the other players managed to step-up; especially Stephanie Mercado, Maica Morada and Carla Llaguno who were held to a total of nine points combined. Rosemarie Vargas began taking full advantage of holes in the slower Bingo Milyonaryo defense and finished with 16 points off the bench as the Speed Boosters took the next three cantos 25-18, 25-22 and 25-20. Soriano won over Vargas for the choice for Player of the Game via a virtual coinflip.

My day wasn’t done yet, though. I did the venue announcer (barker) duties for the third game between the TMS-Philippine Army (TMS Shipping sponsors the Lady Troopers) and the hastily formed Cagayan Valley Rising Suns.

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Army was suffering from key injuries including Iloilo lass Jovelyn Gonzaga, Mayeth Carolino—who is nursing a right shoulder situation—and later on ate Michelle. Projected starting libero Sha-Sha Sitan-Torres also played sparingly due to a knee injury.

Despite that, it still turned out to be classic five-set duel for the ages.

Army skipper Joanne Bunag dominated at the net as her offensive thrusts hardly found an any opposition and also boosted by a resurgent Mary Jean Balse, who had a team-high 19 markers. Former national team standout Nerissa Bautista came off the bench to contribute thirteen points; many of which were scored during Army’s obliteration of the Rising Suns in the fourth set. But Cagayan Valley dug deep and in the end had just a bit more resolve to complete their conquest taking the match 25-23, 25-27, 26-24, 25-14, 15-12.

Jen Manzano exploded for 22 points, supported by veteran Joy Cases’ 16 and national team pool member Sandra de los Santos’ 15. However, the true heroine for the Rising Suns was the inspired—and almost perfect—game of Jheck Dionela who garnered fifteen excellent receptions and 26 excellent digs in a gung-ho style show of force as Balse’s pre-season prediction came true: Cagayan Valley is the team to beat. Dionela would have gotten Player of the Game honors in my book if there had such an opportunity.

This Wednesday (July 10), the three opening day victors (Cignal, PLDT MyDSL and Cagayan Valley) take on the winless squads in separate matches and sportZtackle will be there to bring you what goes down.

For now, we can began offering thanksgiving for the formation of the PSL as the fans were treated to a very high-level of volleyball in the opener. I’ll leave you now with the individual scores and I hope to see you all at the San Juan Arena for more PSL action. Paalam!

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FIRST GAME

CIG 25 25 25 X X F

PET 22 17 23 X X

CIG: V.Bernal 17

D. Gendrauli 12

R. Tubino 11

M. Datuin 7

R. Aguilar 6

A. Argarin 1

J. Reyes (L) 0

R. Manzano 0

H. Acuña 0

M. Legaspi 0

PET: A. Maizo-Pontillas 11

A. Tabaquero 9

M. Ortiz 7

J. Caballejo 3

G. Ho 2

F. Cainglet 2

C. Soriano 2

R. Dimaculangan 1

K. Acevedo 1

J. Curato (L) 0

G. Del Rosario (L) 0

K. Bello 0

SECOND GAME

PLDT 22 25 25 25 X F

BMo 25 18 22 20 X

PLDT: P. Soriano 16

R. Vargas 16

A. Benting 13

W. Eulalio 8

M. Macatuno 3

L. Dawis 3

L. Latigay 2

L. Gata-Pantone (L) 0

L. Patilano 0

D. Robiños 0

C. Moralde 0

BMo: I. Patrona 14

M. Laborte 11

M. Gumabao 6

M. Morada 5

S. Mercado 4

I. Remulla 4

C. Saet 1

M. Penetrante-Ouaño 1

S. Peñano (L) 0

A. Jose 0

C. Llaguno 0

G. Yumang 0

THIRD GAME

CAG 25 25 26 14 15 F

TMS 23 27 24 25 12

CAG: J. Manzano 22

J. Cases 16

S. De Los Santos 15

S. Pineda 8

W. Semana 6

L. De Ramos 2

J. Dionela (L) 0

S. Espelita 0

A. Puylong 0

TMS M. Balse 19

J. Bunag 17

N. Bautista 13

J. Alarca 11

T. Salak 5

M. Carolino (9) 4

G. Sabas 4

D. Cruz 1

A. Nunag (L) 0

S, Siatan-Torres (L) 0

T. Iratay 0

M. Gutierrez 0

#PhilippineSuperLiga

Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoelZarate) and email sportztackle@yahoo.com