By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Nxled survived a strong challenge from Capital1 in the last two sets as it hacked out a 25-13, 25-23, 25-22 victory on Tuesday, April 23 in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Despite being out of semifinal contention, the Chameleons still showed grit and determination in nailing the win with Camille Victoria and Ivy Lacsina spearheading the offensive charge to pick up their fourth triumph against six defeats.
The victory not only erased the stigma of their three-set loss to Creamline, but also boosted Nxled’s morale heading to its final preliminary match against Petro Gazz on Saturday, April 27, to close out its campaign on a bright note.
Victoria powered the Chameleons with 17 points including the team’s last two points that sealed the win.
“Gusto lang naming maging memorable itong mga last games namin, bigyan ng magandang laban yung kalaban namin,” said Victoria, who highlighted her performance with 14 attacks and three blocks .
Lacsina also took charge of the Chameleons’ assault particularly in steering the team from deficits in the last two sets, finishing with 12 points including 11 kills.
Capital1 had the chance to level the game in the second set when it led 20-19, but failed to sustain its momentum when Victoria and Lacsina stepped on the gas for Nxled and orchestrated a 6-2 run behind their hard smashes to take a 2-0 set lead.
The Solar Spikers refused to give up the fight and dictated the pace in third, but the Chameleons were quick to regroup and turned their 15-13 deficit to a 20-16 lead and never looked back.
Jho Maraguinot also spelled the difference for Nxled with eight points including that off-the-block spike for the Chameleons’ second-set win, while also picking up seven excellent digs.
Des Clemente was the lone double-digit scorer for Capital1 with 10 points, as the Solar Spikers absorbed their seventh straight loss to plummet to 1-9 near the bottom standings.
