Up next for the High Speed Hitters are the Zus Coffee Thunderbelles in their opening Pool C assignment of PVL Reinforced Conference second round of preliminaries.
It was a speed-dial kind of bounce back for PLDT.
The High Speed Hitters quickly returned to their winning ways after hammering out a tight 25-20, 25-23, and 25-23 decision over the Farm Fresh Foxies in their final Pool A play of PVL Reinforced Conference in the Philsports Arena, Pasig on Thursday, August 8.
Import Elena Samoilenko was once again in her usual dominant form with a game-high 22 points as Kim Fajardo tallied 12 excellent sets to go along with three points on her way to being named as the Player of the Game.
Farm Fresh threatened late in the final set, closing in to within one point at 23-24 after being down by three points earlier, 20-23.
But a double-block from PLDT's Mika Reyes and Fiola Ceballos put the nail on the coffin on a possible last-ditch Foxies' attempt as the Rald Ricafort-mentored team did not waste time in avenging their heartbreaking five-set loss against the Chery Tiggo Crossovers in their last outing.
The victory also further solidified the High Speed Hitters’ top three pool finish behind a 4-1 win-loss record, with fellow pace-setters Creamline and Chery Tiggo till having a game to play in their final opening round assignments.
Those top three teams in Pool A will face the bottom three teams in Pool B namely two-time defending champion Petro Gazz , Choco Mucho, and ZUS Coffee in Pool C of a crossover-style second round.
Meanwhile, Trisha Tubu led the way for Farm Fresh with a team-high17 points while import Yeny Murillo added 11 as the ladies in orange saw their two-game winning skid snapped.
With the loss, the Foxies --together with the Nxled Chameleons and Galeries Tower Highrisers-- will comprise the bottom three teams of Pool A who will face unbeaten Akari, Cignal, and Capital1 who emerged as the top three teams in Pool B.
They will be grouped in Pool D.
Earlier, Samoilenko connected on a kill block to give PLDT match point in the second set before a Kate Santiago off-the-block attack and a Majoy Baron attacking error gave Farm Fresh a slim hope.
But the Russian reinforcement delivered the killer blow courtesy of a smashing kill for a commanding 2-0 set lead in favor of the High Speed Hitters.