By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
PLDT made light work of Strong Group Athletics with a dominating 25-12, 25-21, 25-17 victory on Tuesday night, April 9, to seize the share of the lead in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
The High Speed Hitters hardly broke a sweat in disposing of the Athletics, needing only 75 minutes to stretch their winning run to five games and improve their win-loss record to 7-1.
The victory put them atop the leaderboard with Choco Mucho and boosted their semifinal chances ahead of the crucial phase of the preliminaries.
PLDT coach Rald Ricafort shuffled his lineup to give all his stalwarts playing minutes, with most of his second stringers stepping up.
Kiesha Bedonia came off the bench in the first set and went on to spearhead the High Speed Hitters by firing all her 16 points on attacks, while, Shiela Kiseo and Jules Samonte contributed 11 points apiece.
Hard-hitting Savi Davison was given plenty of rest in the match, seeing action only in the first set and making three points, even as Kim Fajardo and Majoy Baron also played in the opening frame with only one point each to show.
Strong Group tried to grab the momentum in the second set but PLDT was still too much to handle, eventually slipping in the third frame.
The Athletics couldn’t convert enough attacks to pounce on the High Speed Hitters as they managed only nine excellent sets, with Dolly Versoza and Sheeka Espinosa only converting six kills apiece.
Strong Group’s woes continued as it skidded to its eighth consecutive loss in as many outings.
