Reigning champion Petron lived another day after salvaging a pivotal 23-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-19 victory over F2 Logistics in Game 2 of their Philippine Superliga Grand Prix best-of-three championship series late Thursday at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
With their backs against the wall following a sorry defeat in the series opener, the Blaze Spikers banked on imports Stephanie Niemer and Katherine Bell to emerge victorious and stretch the match to a kill-or-be-killed battle.
Game 3 is set on Saturday also at the same venue.
Bell delivered 25 points and 24 digs while Niemer out if 23 hits for the Blaze Spikers, who finally drew impressive numbers from their local crew of Mika Reyes, Rhea Dimaculangan and Aiza Maizo-Pontillas.
Reyes had seven kills, four blocks and a pair of aces for 13 points while Maizo-Pontillas knocked down seven markers to compliment the 29 excellent sets tallied by Dimaculangan.
“We accepted Game 1 as a challenge. It was a wake-up call,” said Petron coach Shaq Delos Santos.
“We had an open forum where we allowed everybody to express their feelings. We have to release all of those so we can feel the presence of everybody.”
Imports MJ Perez and Lindsay Stalzer again carried the load, finishing with 24 and 21 points, respectively for the Cargo Movers, who failed to take advantage of the momentum they built in the first set.
Majoy Baron and Ara Galang also shone with eight points apiece while Dawn Macandili had 26 digs and 18 receptions.
