by Jerome Lagunzad
Games Tomorrow (The Arena, San Juan City)
4 p.m. — Smart vs F2 Logistics
6 p.m. — Sta. Lucia vs Cignal
Petron made quick work of struggling Generika-Ayala with straight sets win of 25-21, 25-15, 25-21 to sustain its perfect start in the 2018 Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga (PSL) Grand Prix last night at the Malolos Sports and Convention Center.
Hard-hitting American import Lindsay Stalzer stood at the forefront of their fluid attack with 20 points while her teammates provided enough support as the Blaze Spikers needed just 87 minutes to get the job done over the erratic Lifesavers.
The straight sets victory was Petron’s fifth straight in the import-spiced tournament.
“We’ve definitely been feeling great over the past weeks with training. Everyone’s just very motivated to keep performing strong,” said Stalzer.
The Lifesavers, meanwhile, have yet to see an end to their barren spell under new mentor Sherwin Meneses as they suffered their third consecutive loss that dropped them down further in the cellar of the eight-team field.
American Symone Hayden fired away 19 points, but the Lifesavers still proved no match to Petron’s high-octane offense led by Stalzer and close buddy Hillary Hurley who added 18 points.
The writings of an expected blowout were already on the wall in the first set when the Blaze Spikers raced to a quick 7-2 start then did enough to hold off any of the Lifesavers’ rallies.
Then Petron tightened up its defensive screws in the second frame before coach Shaq Delos Santos turned to his solid bench unit to finish off the Lifesavers in the decisive set.