San juan city: Capital1 pulled off a 25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 26-24 victory over Galeries Tower Saturday to close out the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference preliminaries at FilOil Playtime Centre in San Juan City. Bella Belen, a three-time UAAP Most Valuable Player, led the Solar Spikers with 23 points, 14 excellent digs and 15 receptions.
According to Philippines News Agency, Capital1, which snapped a two-game skid, dominated the attack department, 74-59, overwhelming Galeries Tower's defense and offsetting the 23 free points they conceded from errors. France Ronquillo chipped in 20 points to earn Best Player of the Game honors, while Cherry Nunag and Sydney Niegos added 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Aiza Pontillas topscored for Galeries Tower with 17 points, followed by Jean Asis with 14 points, and Erika Deloria and Gayle Pascual with 10 points each. Capital1 (4-5) and Galeries Tower (2-7) finished eighth and ninth, respectively, in the 10-team field, landing in the same play-in bracket (Group 1) along with the No. 5 team.
Group 2 will feature the sixth, seventh and 10th-ranked squads. The round-robin play-in stage begins Tuesday. Top performers will advance to knockout matches against the losers of the qualifying round crossover clashes.
Meanwhile, the top four teams, still incomplete at press time, will battle for the first two semifinal berths starting Thursday. PLDT and Cignal have already secured spots to the qualifying round, while Akari, Farm Fresh, Creamline and Nxled remain in contention.
