Capital1 swept Choco Mucho, 25-23, 26-24, 25-19, to seize the third seed in Pool A in the PVL Reinforced Conference on Tuesday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Sasha Bytsenko continued to dazzle for the Solar Spikers, dropping 17 points off 15 kills and two aces to finish the first round with back-to-back wins for a 3-2 record. They will face the bottom three of Pool B, Petro Gazz, Chery Tiggo EV, and Galeries Tower in the next round.
‘This kind of process is super good that we [won] in straight sets. But we need more, and we’re gonna fight for more. The next part of the tournament is super, super important and the focus now is to recover these guys and [be] back to show up again,’ said Capital1 coach Jorge Souza De Brito.
Top overall pick Bella Belen also delivered with 11 points before she suffered from cramps when Capital1 held a 15-14 lead in the third.
Still, Bytsenko and middle blocker Rachel Austero got the job done for the Solar Spikers changing the result of their straight-set loss to Choco Mucho in the supposed opener last Oct.7., which was ordered to be replayed following the absence of imports due to ITC (International Transfer Certificates) issues.
‘We’re really happy because today’s win was a total team effort. We studied Choco Mucho and came up with a solid game plan for this match. It wasn’t just the first six players. The whole team worked together and set our goals as one,’ said Belen in Filipino.
Austero had eight points and six digs, while rookie middle blocker Pia Abbu and Leila Cruz had six points each.
‘When we were getting closer to the end, I really saw everyone’s fighting spirit and camaraderie. It just felt so good,’ said Austero.
Marlee Smith led the Flying Titans with 12 points. Maddie Madayag had six kill blocks for 11 points, while Isa Molde added 10 only for them to finish with a 2-3 card in the first round.
Choco Mucho will face the top teams of Pool B, the unbeaten ZUS Coffee, Creamline, and Akari.