TMS-Philippine Army captures inaugural Philippine Super Liga Invitational crown
MOA ARENA, Pasay City—Jovelyn Gonzaga and Mary Jean Balse stepped up at just the right time to fuel a fourth set onslaught enabling the TMS-Philippine Army to win the championship match 25-15, 25-18, 14-25, 25-16 and emerge as titlists in the first ever Philippine Super Liga (PSL) Invitational, before a near capacity crowd here.
Earlier in the day (July 28), PLDT MyDSL outlasted a gritty Bingo Milyonaryo Puffins in a five-set slugfest 25-18, 26-24, 21-25, 21-25, 20-18 to attain a fifth place finish in the tournament while the Petron Blaze Spikers upended Cagayan Valley in four sets 25-18, 22-25, 26-24, 25-16 to cop the bronze medal. The league also handed out individual awards with Cignal HD skipper Venus Bernal claiming the MVP trophy.
Classification Match for 5th place: PLDT MyDSL def. Bingo Milyonaryo (5 sets)
Usually, fifth place classification matches would carry less intensity, but not these two proud franchises. PLDT MyDSL and Bingo Milyonaryo—both highly touted coming into the tournament and both finishing with only one victory apiece prior to this match-up—clawed at each other from the onset.
The league made a twist for this encounter, allowing the winner (instead of the sixth placer) to get the top overall pick in the upcoming PSL Expansion Draft leading up to the PSL Open which is slated to begin sometime in October of this year. The victor of this seemingly meaningless appetizer to the medal matches—and television coverage—gets first dibs on incoming players and unprotected volleybelles from the competing teams even if new franchises join that next conference. So for these two squads, the tiff meant much more than just a mere placing.
And they showed it.
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After it appeared that the Speed Boosters were well on their way to replicating their preliminary round triumph over the Puffins by snaring the first two sets, ageless Mic-Mic Laborte spearheaded a valiant uprising which was backstopped by returning-from-an-injury star open-hitter Stephanie Mercado and the inimitable Maureen Penetrante-Ouano to take the next two sets.
The fifth set became a virtual tug-of-war with Puffins young aces Michele Gumabao and Maica Morada practically trading artillery with PLDT MyDSL’s Pau Soriano and Angela Benting. That alleged race-to-fifteen decider saw six match points exchanged by both squads and when the Speed Boosters finally got the decisive margin required to win, the venue erupted with cheers as if the Speed Boosters won the championship. In a way they did, by earning the top pick overall—which is projected to be Rachel Anne Daquis, Rubie de Leon or Bacolod’s Patty Orendain.
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The Speed Boosters were led by Soriano’s league record-tying 24 markers supported by Benting’s 19, Cha Moralde’s 14 and skipper Lou Ann Latigay’s ten.
Bingo Milyonaryo got a season-high 22 points from Laborte—which included a league-record seven block points. Gumabao and Moralde chipped in fourteen points each while Penetrante-Ouano had ten as the Puffins lost to PLDT MyDSL for the second time in the tournament, this time in a match that could have really gone either way.
Bronze Medal match: Petron def. Cagayan Valley (4 sets)
Then came the battle of the two teams that had suffered bitter losses during the semis as former league-leadeing Rising Suns clashed with the Blaze Spikers for a podium finish.
The Petron faithful instantly had a good reason to be extra optimistic about their chances coming into the game as former Ateneo de Manila stalwart Charo Soriano rejoined the contingent after declaring barely a week ago that she would not be available for the semis and the final playdate.
“I asked my family if I could come back early and they supported me,” Soriano said to this writer during a lull in the match. “I’m sure most people would have done (this also).”
The truth is, many might not have left the paradise called Bali, Indonesia to return home to play volleyball, but Charo is the ultimate team player and she was instrumental in this match-up.
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Early on, Petron leaned on the explosive offense of acting captain Angge Tabaquero and star utility-spiker Aiza Maizo-Pontillas to spring ahead and capture the first set. However, reserve bomber Joy Benito ignited a furious second set assault which sent the Blaze Spikers reeling and that tied it all up. The third set was a war of wills as no team could gain a clear advantage after the aggression level from both camps escalated in what resulted as an extremely close war. In the end, Petron began getting major contributions from reserve open-spiker Fille Cainglet and rock solid center Maika Ortiz as the Blaze Spikers leaned on several endgame breaks to edge the Rising Suns 26-24.
When the fourth set ensued, Ortiz could no longer be stopped.
The Rising Suns put up a gallant stand with the relentless Joy Cases teaming up with wunderkind Sheila Pineda to try and keep it close, but in the end the total firepower of the Blaze Spikers could not be contained by Cagayan Valley as Petron cruised to a fourth set triumph en route to the podium finish they set out to achieve.
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Ortiz’s 20 points was a game-high and was enough to have her feted as Player of the Game. Tabaquero registered sixteen markers while Maizo-Pontillas had eleven. Cainglet once again provided a big lift off the bench, contributing ten points.
Cagayan Valley had Cases with 18 (again—for the third straight match), veteran center Liza de Ramos with ten and Benito with nine markers in another heartbreaker that has been the recurring theme of the Rising Suns' season so far.
Individual Awards
I had the privilege of hosting the individual awards that recognized the talents of the best players in the league—and mayb gain automatic consideration for national team contention. Here were the awardees:
Best Scorer: Pau Soriano (PLDT MyDSL)
Best Spiker: Royse Tubino (Cignal HD)
Best Blocker: Tina Salak (TMS-Philippine Army)
Best Server: Sandra de los Santos (Cagayan Valley)
Best Setter: Arriane Argarin (Cignal HD)
Best Digger: Jheck Dionela (Cagayan Valley)
Best Receiver: Jen Reyes (Cignal HD)
MVP: Venus Bernal (Cignal HD)
Championship match: TMS-Philippine Army def. Cignal HD (4 sets)
The championship match started on a rather lopsided note with the Lady Troopers easily snaring the first two sets in dominating fashion. Open-spiker Michelle Carolino began her demolition work early as Balse joined the fray for an almost total dismantlement of the HD Spikers’ frontline defenses. It also helped TMS-Philippine Army that newly crowned MVP Bernal could not get her bearings straight in the first two cantos and Best Digger Jen Reyes was being overpowered by the solid shots unleashed by the Lady Troopers.
Things began turning around in the third set when injured center Michelle Datuin began launching floater serves that somehow created havoc in the reception game of the Lady Troopers. This paved the way for Tubino’s infiltration of the opposing defenses and Cebuana attacker Danika Gendrauli spotting holes in the long court. Cignal tore apart Army, 25-14.
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But the veterans in the Lady Troopers side began adjusting and when setter Tina Salak began going almost exclusively to utility-spiker Gonzaga, the floodgates opened and the HD Spikers became hapless victims of a raging juggernaut starring Gonzaga, Balse and center Jacqueline Alarca as TMS-Philippine Army ravaged the Cignal defenses and with it claim the title. With the victory, the Lady Troopers successfully navigated their way to six straight wins after an opening day loss to eventual fourth-placers Cagayan Valley.
Confetti blasts showered the new volleyball queens and it also brought the inaugural staging of the first women’s volleyball club league to a pulsating climax.
TMS-Philippine Army was led by Balse’s game-high sixteen points, but it was Gonzaga’s fourth set display of accuracy and firepower that allowed her to cop most of her twelve markers and also won the 21-year-old Ilongga Player of the Game honors. Alarca also finished with twelve for the Lady Troopers.
Cignal could only produce one double-digit scorer as Tubino’s eleven points marked a team-high, with Gendrauli’s mere nine points and Bernal’s anemic eight markers the only support the Perpetual Help senior got in the Silver Medal finish.
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Congratulations to all the teams, players, organizers and sponsors that took part in the maiden voyage of the PSL and here’s to looking forward to a bigger and brighter PSL Open this October. The PSL has truly made Philippine women’s volleyball “Rise As One”.
BOX SCORES
Consolation Match for 5th: PLDT MyDSL def. Bingo Milyonaryo 25-18, 26-24, 21-25, 21-25, 20-18
PLDT: P. Soriano 24, Benting 19, Moralde 14, Latigay 10, Eulalio 6, Macatuno 3. Dolar 1, Gata-Pantone (L) 0, Vargas 0, Jalbuna 0, Dawis 0.
Bingo Milyonaryo: Laborte 22, Gumabao 14, Morada 14, Penetrante-Ouano 10, Mercado 9, Saet 6, Ortega-Patrona 1, Peñano (L) 0, Jose 0, Tabuena-Cruzada 0, Yumang 0, Llaguno 0.
Bronze Medal Match: Petron def. Cagayan Valley 25-18, 22-25, 26-24, 25-16
Petron: Ortiz 20, Tabaquero 16, Maizo-Pontillas 11, Cainglet 10, Caballejo 7, Dimaculangan 4, C. Soriano 3, Gohing (L) 0, Ho 0, Acevedo 0.
Cagayan Valley: Cases 18, de Ramos 10, Benito 9, Pineda 8, Manzano 5, de los Santos 3, Espelita 1, Dionela (L) 0, Puylong 0, Mangui 0.
Championship Match: TMS-Philippine Army def. Cignal HD 25-15, 25-18, 14-25, 25-16
TMS-PA: Balse 16, Alarca 12, Gonzaga 12, Carolino 7, Bunag 6, Salak 6, Siatan-Torres (L) 0, Nunag (L) 0, Bautista 0, Cruz 0, Iratay 0.
Cignal: Tubino 11, Gendrauli 9, Bernal 8, Aguilar 7, Datuin 6, Argarin 3, Legaspi 2, Acuña 1, Reyes (L) 0, Sartin 0, Tagudin 0.
Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoelZarate) and email sportztackle@yahoo.com
