What a day
Most points. Fewest errors. A couple of best starts in franchise history.
It was a day of milestones in the PVL Reinforced Conference as two teams kept building on their unbeaten starts while the tournament’s surprise squad celebrated a smashing individual record.
Cignal and Akari both racked up their fourth straight victory on the same day Marina Tushova exploded for a league record 45 points as Capital1 notched its best start in franchise history on Thursday with a 13-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-20, 15-13 upset of Choco Mucho.
The Russian import eclipsed former Akari reinforcement Prisilla Rivera’s record of 44 points which the latter scored in 2022 and, after firing 43 attacks, broke Kia Bright’s mark of 40 attacks in a single game.
“All game I felt like I’m not doing anything. That’s why I’m like, ‘let’s do more, let’s do more.’ So about this 45 points, it’s good for sure but it’s not like I’m already on top of my career or I’m better than someone else,” Tushova said.
“It’s just one game and today it was like this. Thank you, I really appreciate it. Thanks to my team, thanks to my family, to the people who are close to me because of them, I’m here now,” she added.
Cignal’s latest victory, a near-flawless 25-19, 25-19, 25-22 performance against Petro Gazz came on the back of another league record: the HD Spikers committed just six errors, the fewest mistakes in a single game.
“Our run has been good so far, which of course isn’t easy to do,” Cignal coach Shaq delos Santos told the Inquirer after the game. “Every day we process what we want to improve on and then talk with the players about what we want to achieve.”
“The team responded well [starting] in the practice where they are patiently working on what to correct, maintain and improve and then how to apply it in-game without hesitation because we prepared well with a game plan so that’s why we are having good results,” he added after his team matched a franchise-best start with a fourth straight victory in as many games.
Akari also came out with a milestone of its own. Oly Okaro, Ivy Lacsina and Grethcel Soltones formed a three-pronged offense orchestrated by Kamille Cal in a 25-18, 25-15, 25-23 beating of hapless ZUS Coffee.
Active defensively
That put the Chargers also at 4-0 (win-loss) for their franchise’s best start ever.
Okaro finished with 14 points, all but one from kills, Lacsina contributed 13 points on 11 attacks and two blocks and Soltones added 12 points.
Ced Domingo had eight points as Kal activated Akari’s offense depth with 17 excellent sets.
“I’m really grateful for the trust that the coaches give to me especially since I am just new to the team,” said Cal, who was part of a multiplayer swap with sister team Nxled. “For sure, as a new setter there will be a lot of lapses with regards to our connection but thank God we’ve been able to work that out during training.”
It was all about Tushova in the thrilling marathon match as Iris Tolenada, who tossed in 17 excellent sets, consistently found her foreign teammate to help Capital1 to a 2-2 card, its best start since joining the pro league.
Tushova was also active on the defensive end with 12 excellent digs and 18 excellent receptions to help rookie libero Roma Mae Doromal who caught 12 excellent digs as well and 16 excellent receptions.
“Marina has been carrying our offense for the past three games. But we still need our local players to keep contributing,” coach Roger Gorayeb said.
“In the first set, it was only Marina [doing the work],” he added. “I kept telling the team that we have to help Marina, you [have] got to support Marina. We do not put all the pressure on offense on Marina’s shoulders.”
Faki’s best
Des Clemente was the next best scorer for Capital1 with seven points, including four off the nine total blocks of the winning crew.
Zoi Faki’s best performance of 28 points, 25 coming from kills, and Dindin Santiago-Manabat’s 16 points was put to waste as the Flying Titans dropped their third match in four games.
“The players were lucky in the next three, four sets. Small contributions but they helped a lot,” Gorayeb said. “It’s too heavy a task [for Marina to do it alone]. She didn’t come here just to carry us by herself, right? We need to help each other out.” Faki gave Choco Mucho its biggest lead in the deciding frame with a kill off the block that dropped Capital1 to a 5-8 hole. But Faki and Deanna Wong committed three consecutive errors that allowed the Solar Spikers to tie the game.
And Tushova, fittingly, hammered a kill from the back row to secure the victory. INQ
