Chargers rally to trip PLDT, win PVL bronze

Akari Chargers celebrate after winning the PVL Reinforced Conference bronze medal.

(STAR / Russell Palma)

MANILA, Philippines — In a bronze medal match played with the ferocity and desperation of a championship duel, Akari clawed its way to a 15-25, 25-23, 21-25, 26-24, 20-18 victory over PLDT in a wild, breathless finish that left the Araneta Coliseum crowd stunned into silence before erupting into disbelief.

Trailing by a set, 2-1, and 15-4 in the fourth set, the Chargers came blitzing back to take the set, knot the count at 2-2, and forced a decider that they also took for the third-place trophy in the PVL Reinforced Conference Sunday.

It was the four-year-old franchise's third podium finish after a runner-up effort in this same conference last year and a third-place finish in the All-Filipino Conference early this year.

Annie Mitchem played like a gem and unloaded a 36-point effort including clutch hits in that fourth-set juggernaut when Akari climbed out of an 11-point hole and saved Akari from the brink of defeat.

It was also the 31-year-old Mitchem who delivered when it mattered in the decisive final set.

“With Annie, I’m very proud. This is the seventh fifth-set that we had and she never wavered and left us, I’m so grateful to her,” said Akari coach Tina Salak of her power-spiking import.

The result also completed Akari’s climb from being the eighth seed in the quarterfinals to No. 3 in this conference.

In contrast, it was a heartbreaking result for the Manny V. Pangilinan-owned franchise, the PVL on Tour and Invitational titlist which was hoping to console itself with a bronze after falling short for a dream three-peat.

But the High Speed Hitters came tantalizingly close from achieving such a feat after seizing a commanding 11-point lead in the fourth set that would have sealed them the deal had they sustained the momentum.

They did not.

Salak admitted they had already doubted themselves after being buried massively in that set.

“We doubted ourselves in that set. We didn’t realize that holding on together is the best thing we can possibly do to win this bronze,” she said.