Biñan Tatak Gel 1-Pacman Partylist completed an improbable upset of twice-to-beat Bacoor, coming through with a 25-21, 26-24, 25-21 victory in the do-or-die Game 2 of the 2024 Maharlika Pilipinas Volleyball Association (MPVA) semifinals on Wednesday night, Nov. 20, at the Alonte Sports Arena in Laguna.
At home, the third-ranked Volley Angels came out with guns ablaze anew to mirror their straight-sets win in Game 1 over the No. 2 favorite Strikers and set up a best-of-three finale date against the top-seeded Quezon.
Game 1 is on Monday at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan followed by Games 2 and 3 in Quezon – Quezon Convention Center in Lucena and and South Quezon Convention Center in Gumaca, respectively.
Biñan, swept by Bacoor in two elimination-round meetings, flipped the script on its foe in dominant fashion without yielding a single set behind Erika Jin Deloria with 16 points on 15 hits and an ace.
It was also Deloria, with similar 16 points, who headlined Biñan’s 25-18, 25-18, 25-16 win in Game 1 of the MPVA founded by former Senator and MPBL chairman Manny Pacquiao.
Shane Carmona and May Ann Nuique contributed 11 points each for the Volley Angels, who avenged their 19-25, 23-25, 20-25 and 25-20, 22-25, 16-25, 25-21, 3-15 defeat in the prelims.
While it was a sweep in 86 minutes, the Volley Angels, however, needed to grind it out with slow starts in each of the set compared to a dominant performance in their Game 1 victory on the road in Bacoor.
The biggest turnaround was in the second set, where Deloria anchored Biñan’s comeback from a 13-16 deficit highlighted by the set-clinching howitzer to take a 2-0 lead.
It was another nip-and-tuck battle midway through the third frame but Biñan with momentum on its side was just not to be denied by unleashing a strong finishing kick once again – this time with Carmona and Nuique joining hands in crunch time.
Irene Zenneth Perolino and Jen Kylene Villegas threw in seven and five points, respectively, for the Volley Angels, who surpassed their seventh-place finish in the inaugural season of the MPVA backed Extreme One-Stop Shop Appliances, ASICS, Mikasa and Gerflor with MPTV and Outcomm as broadcast partners.
Bacoor was the champion in the inaugural but shorter edition without the home-and-away format but will now fight for only the bronze medal in a knockout duel against No. 4 seed Rizal after its semifinal defeat to incentive-equipped Quezon.
Like in Game 1, Cyrille Joie Alemeniana was the only twin-digit scorer with 15 points for Bacoor in an expected exit despite a win-once bonus in the MPVA organized by the Volleyball Masters of the Philippines.
