MANILA, Philippines – The Victory Sports-UST Golden Tigresses simply had no answer for Tamara Kmezic as the Iriga City Oragons halted their month-long losing skid with a 25-19, 25-21, 25-20 victory in the 2017 Philippine Superliga Grand Prix at the Arena in San Juan Thursday, November 23.

With the Oragons down 16-18 in the third set, Kmezic unloaded 3 straight hits to give Iriga, which trailed by 7-12 earlier in the set, a 19-18 advantage.

The Tigresses then committed back-to-back errors before Kmezic scored another 2 points to push the Oragons’ lead to 5, 24-19. Another UST error sealed Iriga’s first win since October 24.

Kmezic fired 20 points, built on 17 kills, 2 aces and a block, for Iriga, which ended its 4-game skid to improve to 2-4 for 7th place.

“Matagal tagal din, apat na sunod sunod e. sabi ko nga sa kanila, importanteng manalo tayo ngayon para sa ranking, para hindi naman namin makalaban yung number 1 kasi baka bugbugin kami,” said Iriga coach Parley Tupaz.

(It has been a long time since we won. We suffered four straight losses. I told the players that it is important to win today for us to go up in the rankings and possibly not face the number 1 team. We would probably get beaten up if that happens.)

Janeca Lana added 9 points for the Oragons while Sam Miyagawa chipped in 7. Joyce Sta. Rita and Katherine Villegas combined for 10 markers.

The Tigresses closed a 10-point gap in the second set to just 3 points, 20-23, behind a 9-2 spurt but ran out of steamSL as Villegas and Shyrra Cabriana delivered the finishing blows for the Oragons.

Carla Sandoval had her best game in the tournament with a 14-point outing but it went for naught as the Tigresses absorbed their 6th loss in as many outings. Dim Pacres added 11 for UST. – Rappler.com