Chameleons scuttle Highrisers for second straight win

Nxled continued its strong assault and crushed Galeries Tower, 25-22, 25-18, 25-17, in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City on Thursday, Nov. 16.

Still in cloud nine from their morale-boosting four-set victory over the Akari Chargers just two days back, the Chameleons sustained their momentum for a second straight triumph to hike their win-loss tally to 3-5.

Jho Maraguinot paced Nxled with 13 points highlighted by 11 kills, while Krich Macaslang came through with all-around plays to finish with 11 points built on eight points, one block and two aces.

“We’re really happy with this win. We showed that not every new team is scared and that we can also give a good fight,” said Macaslang, whose team needed one hour and 26 minutes to down their rivals.

After a hard-earned opening set, the Chameleons briefly lost their bearings as the Highrisers waxed hot in the offensive end at the start of the second frame with a 12-7 lead.

But Nxled took that as a challenge as they unleashed hard-hitting attacks to tie the game at 18-all, before whipping up a storm by unloading seven straight points highlighted by Camille Cal’s back-to-back aces to clinch the set victory.

The Highrisers tried to recover in the third with Andrea Marzan, Audrey Paran and Rapril Aguilar at the forefront of their charge but the Chameleons were too hot to handle.

Marzan scored 11 points while Paran and Aguilar teamed up for 16 points for Galeries Tower as it skidded further deeper into the cellar with a seventh consecutive defeat.

Nxled dominated Galeries Tower on all fronts particularly in the service area with 11 aces including four from Cal.