PLDT dominated the winless Nxled, 25-22, 25-21, 25-20, to finish Pool A strong in the PVL Reinforced Conference on Friday at FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
Savi Davison once again led the High Speed Hitters’ offense with 19 points off 14 kills, three blocks, and two aces. She also anchored the floor defense with 10 digs and nine excellent receptions. Russian Anastasiia Bavykina had 10 points. Del Palomata added seven points, while Kath Arado had 10 digs to overcome Paola Martinez’s 29-point explosion for Nxled.
‘One of our main reminders going into this game was to learn from our last loss. We didn’t want to have another slow start. We knew Nxled wouldn’t make it easy, especially now that their import is really performing well. So our mindset was to stay patient and focus on how we could limit their import’s production,’ said PLDT coach Rald Ricafort in Filipino.
‘Thankfully, things fell into place. They still had the edge in attacks, but we were able to capitalize on their errors, and that helped us pull away toward the end.’ Arado said staying patient was key against the winless but gritty Chameleons, whose Spanish import was coming off a 38-point performance last week. ‘I can’t let myself get frustrated because not everything will go the way I read it. I’m not the only one on the court, so there’s no point stressing myself out when I make a mistake. We won’t win if I keep dwelling on my errors. We also can’t afford to lose patience with ourselves,’ she said.
PLDT tied Farm Fresh on top of Pool A with identical 4-1 records, facing the bottom Pool B teams, Galeries Tower, Chery Tiggo, and either Petro Gazz or Akari.
Martinez hammered 25 kills, two aces, and two blocks, while Chiara Permentilla had seven points and 11 receptions only to finish the first round with a 0-5 record.
Nxled battles unbeaten ZUS Coffee, Creamline, and either Akari or Petro Gazz in the second round, where it tries to enter the win column.