Foxies repel Angels to book PVL quarters berth

This will be the third time in Farm Fresh’s franchise history that the team will make it this far.

PVL Media Bureau

Games Thursday

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

1:30 p.m. — Cignal vs Zus

4 p.m. — Nxled vs Akari

6:30 p.m. — Choco Mucho vs Creamline

MANILA, Philippines — Farm Fresh fended off Petro Gazz’s comeback bid as it eked out a 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 28-26 victory at the Filoil EcoOil Arena in San Juan City on Tuesday to barge into the PVL Reinforced Conference quarterfinals.

Helene Rousseaux and Alohi Robins-Hardy came through when needed to power the Foxies to their fifth victory in six outings and straight into the quarterfinals alongside the ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles (6-0) and the PLDT High Speed Hitters (5-1).

Rousseaux came through firing as usual and dropped a match-high 31 points, including the final nail in the coffin — a buzzing spike straight onto an open space at the back — while Robins-Hardy facilitated the offense with 21 excellent sets while chipping nine hits.

This will be the third time in franchise history that it will make it this far.

But unlike the first two where it exited early, the first against Akari in last year’s Reinforced and the other just early this year in the PVL on Tour to Creamline, Farm Fresh appeared fiercer, more determined on this one as it built a formidable cast anchored on the power Rousseaux-Robins-Hardy duo.

“Once again, I sound like a broken record, my team is gritty and never gives up,” said Farm Fresh coach Alessandro Lodi.

Also coming through for the Foxies were Trisha Tubu and Ces Molina, who had 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Lodi knew all along they’re in for a tough ride against Petro Gazz.

“We knew those guys have weapons, they have scorers and experienced players,” said Lodi. “But we were good enough to get two great sets and made good plays late.”

It was a big blow for the Angels, two-time champions this conference, as they fell to 3-3.