By MARK REY MONTEJO
Marina Tushova shattered her previous PVL record after firing away 49 points as Capital1 overcame a shaky start to deny Nxled, 20-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-19, 15-6, in the Reinforced Conference Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
The 25-year-old Russian juggernaut exploded for 49 points off 46 attacks, one block and two aces which eclipsed her previous feat of 45 markers in a five-set thriller against Choco Mucho a week ago.
The Solar Spikers tallied their third consecutive and fourth overall win against two losses.
Aside from her record-breaking performance, Tushova’s explosion also bolstered Capital1’s quarterfinal bid as it currently sits at sixth place while the Chameleons (1-5) slipped further to 10th place.
Impressively, according to head coach Roger Gorayeb, Tushova has been dealing with hand pain for the past few days.
“She was in pain yesterday, I was worried, her one hand [hurts],” said Gorayeb. “I’ve said this before, I would rather see Marina on our side than playing against her.”
“I was more comfortable on the court and more confident,” Tushova stressed. “I just play you know, I just enjoy with my team and about this game, thanks to my coach. I did a good job and we did a good job together,” she added.
The Chameleon actually had a strong opening, holding a 2-0 set lead thanks to Jho Maraguinot, Chiara Permentilla and Meegan Hart, who finished with 19, 15, and 13, respectively.
But the lead quickly melted away as Tushova regained her composure in the following frames.
Iris Tolenada also impressed with 17 excellent sets on top of 7 markers.
Meanwhile, Cignal needed an extra set to tame Farm Fresh, 25-23, 28-26, 25-27, 25-14, and scored its fifth win against one loss and broke the four-way logjam in the standings.
Coming from a four-set loss to Akari Chargers, MJ Perez, as expected, vented her ire and anchored the HD Spikers over the Foxies after a dismal performance in the third set.
Perez registered 25 points while local aces Ces Molina (14), Rose Doria (13) and Chin Basas (11) also provided double-digit outputs for Cignal.
