MANILA – Kurashiki Ablaze of Japan formalized their entry in the Premier Volleyball League Invitational finals after a 25-15, 23-25, 25-14, 25-23 win over PLDT High Speed Hitters in the semifinals on Thursday night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Setter Kyoka Oshima took the Player of the Game honors after finishing with 19 excellent sets to go with seven points as the Ablaze set up a championship showdown with the Creamline Cool Smashers on Sunday.
Asaka Tamaru spearheaded the Ablaze offense with 30 points, Saki Tanabe chipped in 15 markers, while Akane Hiraoka and Yukino Yano added 11 and nine points, respectively.
Unlike in their previous matches that all ended in straight sets, the Ablaze faltered in the second set but managed to regain their form in the third and fourth set to formalize their entry in the finals.
“PLDT is a strong team. I thought our team would lose against them,” Ablaze head coach Hideo Suzuki said. “We will now prepare for Creamline, we will do our best against them in the finals.”
Honey Royse Tubino fired 23 points while Fiola Ceballos came through with 15 points and Michelle Morente and Mika Reyes finished with nine points each as the PLDT dropped to 2-3 record.
In the other game, Cignal HD Spikers snapped its losing skid in the single-round robin semifinals after scoring a 25-13, 25-15, 25-20 victory over Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh of Vietnam and gaining a crack at the bronze medal.
Frances Molina unloaded 16 attack points and finished with 19 markers while Jovelyn Gonzaga scored 10 hits and Roselyn Doria dominated the middle again and came up with five blocks for a nine-point output.
Marivic Meneses and Rachel Anne Daquis contributed eight points apiece for the HD Spikers, which wound up joint third place in the standings with the High Speed Hitters at 2-3 win-loss slate.
Nguyen Huong paced Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh with 12 points while Le Xuan and Nguyen Ngoc added 10 and six points, respectively, for the luckless Vietnamese, which suffered its fourth straight defeat./PN
