Vietnamese rule V-League Invitational tourney

THE VISITING Vietnam proved to be rude visitors as they claimed the title in the V-League Invitational Club Championship with a thrilling five-set win over the Philippine Army over at the Arena in San Juan City.

The 18-25, 14-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-8 win completed the visitor’s clean sweep of the tournament.

Anactaxia Trernai took over in a fiery charge in the decider, accounting for six of the first 10 points that the Vietnamese took in a rather straightforward fashion as the Troopers lost the ferociousness they showed in overpowering their fancied rivals in the first two sets.

The hosts failed to recover from that 0-10 hole in the race-to-15 fifth set although Rachel Daquis and Joanne Bunag tried to rally the Troopers to no avail as Tam Minh Hoang and Loan Thi Tran stepped up to deliver the last two points, including Tran’s spike that slipped past the hands of Mary Jean Balse.

Trernai, who led VIETSOVPETRO’s comeback in the third set, wound up with 24 points, including 22 attacks, while fellow Russian import Ekaterina Martynova backed her up with 17 points, mostly from running attacks coming off the back of the team’s setter.

Martynova later bagged the MVP honors in the tournament organized by Sports Vision./Correspondent Jonas Panerio