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[av_heading heading=’Foton halts surging Petron to remain unbeaten in PSL ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – The Foton Tornadoes weathered a fight back by the Petron Tri-Activ Spikers to score a 25-18, 23-25, 25-14, 19-25, 15-13 victory in the 2016 Philippine Superliga Grand Prix on Tuesday night at the San Juan Arena.
American reinforcement Lindsay Stalzer led the way with 29 points for the defending champions Tornadoes, which moved up to solo first place in the standings with a 4-0 win-loss slate.
Jaja Santiago chipped in 19 markers, while Ariella Usher and Maika Ortiz contributed 15 and 10 points, respectively, for the Tornadoes, which hopes to continue its winning run against the Cignal HD Spikers today.
After splitting the first four sets, the Tri-Activ Spikers opened the fifth set with a 2-0 lead behind Frances Molina. But the Tornadoes quickly responded behind Ortiz and Stalzer for a 6-5 lead.
Both teams had a tight exchange from there with the score tied at 13-all following an attack from Tornadoes’ Rhea Dimaculangan. Ortiz and Santiago then scored back-to-back blocks to clinch the win for the Tornadoes.
“I don’t think we played great. For my opinion, Petron is still the best team in the tournament,” said Tornadoes head coach Moro Branislav. “We’re lucky that we get the win in the end but we still need to improve our game.”
American import Stephanie Niemer finished with 38 points to lead the way for the 4-1 Tri-Activ Spikers, which hopes to bounce back when it faces the surging F2 Logistics Cargo Movers tonight.
Meanwhile, the Cargo Movers registered its third straight victory in the tournament following a 25-21, 25-18, 25-17 straight set domination over the slumping RC Cola-Army Lady Troopers in the third game./PN
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