With the help of Geneveve Casugod’s power spikes, Generika Ayala Lifesavers (GAL) showed no mercy to annihilate the Cherrylume Iron Lady Warriors (CHE), 25-19, 25-11, 23-25, 25-17, allowing GAL to land at 7th place in the fifth season of the Philippine Super Liga (PSL) held at the De La Salle Lipa (DLSL) Sentrum, July 8.
The game started with a long rally between the two teams but the striking hit of Lifesavers’ Patty Orendain gave them their first point as Judith Abil of the Lady Warriors stretched their scores with triple attacks.
GAL failed to block the killing spike of CHE’s team captain, Mary Ann Mendrez causing Orendain to answer back with a smashing hit, 8-9.
Claiming for a net fault violation against GAL, CHE demanded for the first challenge of the match and it was deemed successful, 17-11.
With back-to-back attacks from Orendain, Mikaela Lopez of Lifesavers secured their score as she attempted for more attacks, giving them a 2-point nearing win.
Even more, Mendrez’ serve became Lifesaver’s key to have their first set win, 25-19.
Opening the second set with strong defense, GAL’s Angelica Legacion served together with the approaches from Lopez and team captain, Geneveve Casugod, 7-1.
The Lady Warriors made consecutive errors, causing the Lifesavers to be miles ahead with the help of Marian Buitre and Carol Cerveza who also contributed points in the second set.
Although they were countered by the ace from CHE’s Laizah Bendong, Lifesavers maintained the lead, 25-11.
Unable to prevent unforced errors, Lifesavers committed a four hits violation and placed the ball out of bounds twice, giving CHE a 3-point advantage in the opening of the third set, 6-3.
The momentum shifted to the Iron Lady Warriors, coming back from being down two sets.
Fiola Ceballos and Chlodia Cortez guarded their team but they were defeated by the solid comeback of Mendrez, 25-23.
The fourth set began with a smooth serve of Lopez but was followed by a service error of Mendrez, 3-1.
Lopez revenged with a flying ace and a challenge for a net fault violation against CHE, 5-3.
Orendain and Casugod returned with fierceful spikes and was followed by a lengthy rally once more with a quick hit forcing the ball to go outside the court.
The receiving ability of the Lady Warriors was wiped out by GAL, thus granting the Lifesavers to be up by eight points.
However, the thriving heart of the Iron Lady Warriors did not want to give up but Lifesavers’ team captain Casugod resiliently protected their stand, claiming their place 25-17.
“Masaya kasi nanalo kami, [pero] malungkot [din] kasi nasa 7th place kami. Pero sobrang saya ko kasi nag-perform kami nang maayos lahat, parang no pressure ‘dun sa game namin today,” Casugod mentioned.
The recently held game was the last for the Lifesavers and Iron Lady Warriors in the season securing them the 7th and 8th places respectively.
The final game for the fifth place was won by Cocolife Asset Managers against Sta. Lucia Lady Realtor, 3-1.
PSL is a semi-professional volleyball league participated by eight club and teams all over the country. This is the second time that the league held one of their games at DLSL as part of their Spiker-on tour event.
