The Capital1 Solar Spikers made emphatic comebacks in the first two sets to seize control of their Pool A match vs the Cignal Super Spikers.
The Capital1 Solar Spikers seized big fish with a stunning sweep of the Cignal Super Spikers, 25-23, 25-23, 25-21, in Pool A of the PVL Reinforced Conference at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan on Friday afternoon.
In a character-building win that marked only the team’s second sweep win ever, Capital1 continued to push forward despite being buried midway through the first two sets — including a 10-17 deficit in the second stanza where the Super Spikers looked poised to tie the match at 1-1.
But an 11-4 push powered by rising offense from Capital1 and ill-timed errors from the Cignal side tied the set at 21-all late, capped off by an attack from Oleksandra Bytsenko to shift all momentum on the side of the Solar Spikers.
They then seized the 23-22 lead after Bella Belen fired off an ace.
Capital1 sealed the 2-0 set advantage after an untimely error from Katrin Trebichavska gifted the Solar Spikers the win.
The Super Spikers were unable to issue a challenge on the call after previously using two of their challenges earlier in the set unsuccessfully.
In Set 3, it was a flat start from the Super Spikers after Capital1 zoomed to an 8-3 lead at the first technical timeout.
But Cignal would not go down without a fight as a 5-0 run midway through the set tied the match at 16-all.
It was all even up until 19-all before Bella Belen scored on a cross court hit before Bytsenko ended a long rally to give the Solar Spikers just enough breathing room to finish the job, 21-19.
Ultimately, it was an overreach from reinforcement Trebichavska that decided the match.
Belen nabbed Player of the Game honors with a double-double of 11 points and 14 excellent digs.
Capital1 thus stay alive for the Top 3 race in Pool A with a 2-2 slate while Cignal is now out of the running for upper half of the standings as they fall to 2-3.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.