Petro Gazz Angels in the PVL All-Filipino Conference Finals. –PVL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Petro Gazz will battle Creamline in the Premier Volleyball League Finals for the fourth time after ousting PLDT in the All-Filipino Conference on Thursday at Mall of Asia Arena.
The Angels showed their killer instinct in a do-or-die semifinal Game 3, beating the High Speed Hitters in straight sets, 25-17, 25-23, 25-15, to set up a best-of-three championship series against the Cool Smashers starting Sunday.
Creamline earlier booked a Finals berth after sweeping F2 Logistics.
Petro Gazz, which settled for a runner-up finish in last year’s first conference, tries to exact revenge against the defending champion Creamline in Game 1 over the weekend at 6:30 p.m. at the same venue in Pasay City.
Coach Oliver Almadro will be making his first PVL Finals as his Angels eye their maiden All-Filipino crown in their third try.
Petro Gazz only faced resistance in the second set as it squandered a 23-19 lead after committing a couple of errors and Dell Palomata and Jovy Prado trimming the deficit to one, 23-22.
But MJ Phillips put things back into order after nailing back-to-back quick attacks to lift Petro Gazz to the verge of victory.
Remy Palma and Grethcel Soltones conspired in the third set to pull away with a 17-7 lead. Substitute spiker Dzi Gervacio joined the party, scoring off a floating ball to tally the biggest margin, 11 points, 20-9, and never looked back.
PLDT coach Rald Ricafort, who left Petro Gazz after winning the Reinforced Conference last December, was eliminated by his former team in a rubber match.
The High Speed Hitters will be relegated in the battle for bronze series against the F2 Logistics Cargo Movers in another best-of-three series also on Sunday.
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.
Read Next
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.