Tuesday, May 15, 2007 Hiroshi bombs Hotel Fortuna in tight win
THE Hiroshi volleybelles stunned champion team Hotel Fortuna-University of San Jose-Recoletos, 3 sets to 2 , to advance to the semifinal round of the 1st M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala Open Indoor Volleyball Tournament last Sunday at the University of the Visayas Gym.
Hiroshi, however, had to pass through the proverbial eye of the needle as it needed five sets to thwart the bull strong USJ-R Spiking Jaguars, 25-20, 25-23, 22-25, 28-30, 16-14, to move to the penultimate round with a clean 3-0 win-loss slate.
Hiroshi, a gathering of former collegiate stars who had its win within arms’ reach and easily overpowered the spiking Jaguars in the first two sets behind Michelle Gimarino, Florianne Gutierrez, Kenneth Cinco and Maritess Natad, who took advantage of USJ-R’s crumbling defenses early in the game.
Down by two sets, USJ-R rediscovered its old self and, displaying the abilities that brought them back-to-back titles in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc., overhauled the huge setback to force the game into overtime.
In the third set, Hiroshi was poised to finish off the game when it was up front 20-16. However, Kennette Garces arrested Hiroshi’s blazing run with two straight points. After that, Lovelie Yu and Genie Sabas scored six more points with Sara Miculob on the service line, to turn the momentum to their side, 23-20, en route to taking the set.
In the fourth, Hiroshi once more had a chance to take the match, but a stubborn USJ-R forced them to seven deadlocks and five slide twos before sealing the set 30-28.
Another close encounter ensued in the deciding set with USJ-R once more finding itself on the submissive end as it needed to overhaul a 3-9 deficit to finally tie the game at 14-all.
However, Liezel Manatad, who is a mainstay of University of Mindanao-Tagum, and Gutierrez closed the game by powerful back-to-back kills that sealed the game for good.
Hiroshi, supported by businessman Haruo Iwanaga, goes into the crossover semifinals on top of the bracket with a clean record.
In the other game, Tinong’s Bakery-Mandaue Selection, led by former RP Team member Jerome Capada, lifted his team to victory over Carcar Selection in another five-set thriller, 17-25, 25-15, 20-25, 25-12, 15-9.
Tinong’s now shares the second place of Bracket A of the men’s division with identical 1-1 win-loss slates. (MCB)
