Alas Pilipinas stars Louie Ramirez of Cignal and Josh Ybañez of University of Santo Tomas-Gameville shone to lead their respective teams in the Spikers’ Turf Invitational Conference on Wednesday night at the Paco Arena.
Ramirez scored 10 of his 23 points in the fifth set to lead Cignal past Alpha Insurance, 20-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 15-11, for a 2-0 start in the short tournament.
From struggling with three points in the first three sets, Ramirez powered the Super Spikers comeback with 20 kills and three blocks
“I really paid close attention when I was subbed out. I told myself, if I get sent back in for Set 4, I’ll do everything I can to help the team. And I really made up for it,” said Ramirez.
“Thank you to my coaches for trusting me. Even though I had a bad start, they told me to keep going. I just said I’ll do my best so I won’t break the trust of my coaches and teammates.”
Aside from the former National Collegiate Athletic Association Most Valuable Philippines (MVP) out of Perpetual Help, JP Bugaoan was also instrumental with 15 points off 11 attacks and four of the team’s 18 kill blocks. JM Ronquillo and Josafat had 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Alpha Insurance dropped to 1-1 with Rocky Motol leading the way with 18 points on 13 attacks, four blocks, and one ace to go along with 33 excellent receptions.
Alas libero Ybañez proved he still got his scoring prowess with 16 points in UST’s 25-22, 25-17, 25-21 sweep of the PGJC-Navy.
Two-time University Athletic Association of the Philippines MVP Ybañez also displayed his steady floor defense with 16 excellent receptions and four digs. Setter Dux Yambao paced the Golden Spikers with 21 excellent sets and finished with five points, as Al-Bukharie Sali and Trevor Valera chipped in 10 and eight points, respectively.
“Good thing we didn’t have any opening-game jitters, but there are still a lot of things we need to polish. Of course, I’m happy because this win is a confidence booster,” said UST coach Odjie Mamon.
Navy dropped to 0-2 with Greg Dolor leading with nine points. Bonjomar Castel had six. Joeven Dela Vega made his comeback with two points coming off a long absence due to health concerns.
UST battles Savouge on Friday with the latter bouncing back from an opening day loss, as Reymark Betco dropped 21 to beat V-League champion Far Eastern University-DN Steel, 25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 25-21.
“It’s a big thing for us to have Betco on our team because he’s such a powerful addition. He actually wanted to play in our first game, but we had a busy week with a lot of matches. I told him, ‘I’ll use you against FEU,’” said Savouge head coach Sydney Calderon of Betco, who was a reserve player in the opener.
Mark Calado sustained his fine form with 15 points. Setter JM Paglaon, who also sat out in the opener, tallied 29 excellent sets and two points.
Shawie Caritativo displayed another all-round performance with 10 points, 20 excellent receptions, and eight excellent digs.
The Tamaraws were led by Dryx Saavedra, who had 19 points. Christian Paul Salboro and Lirick Mendoza chipped in 13 points apiece.
FEU-DN Steel seeks to bounce back against PGJC-Navy also on Friday at 2 p.m.