Generika-Ayala showed remarkable effort to overcome the erstwhile undefeated Petron in a five-set thriller, 25-23, 18-25, 25-22, 31-33, 15-11, in the 2018 Chooks-to-Go PSL Invitational Conference on Thursday at the Filoil Flying V Centre.
Patty Orendain and Angeli Araneta delivered the finishing blows for the Lifesavers, who secured at least a quarterfinal berth after finishing the preliminary round with a 3-1 slate in Pool A.
Orendain topped with 23 points highlighted by 22 spikes, while Araneta supplied 15 attacks, three blocks, and two aces for 20 markers. Libero Kath Arado also shone with a whopping 42 digs and 19 excellent receptions. Playmaker April Ross Hingpit tallied 43 excellent sets.
The two teams figured in an intense battle in the extended fourth set, with Petron coming away with a 33-31 triumph.
Prior to the decider, Generika coach Sherwin Meneses reminded his players to just stick to their game plan.
"I told them to imagine that we're just in training because we had nothing to lose. We know that Petron is really strong but I told them that we can do it if we can execute what we've always been doing," he said.
The Lifesavers heeded their coach's call by going on a 5-1 run early in Set 5. The Blaze Spikers made a counter-attack to inch within one but Generika-Ayala pulled away again courtesy of Araneta's clutch points.
Petron kept on fighting but Araneta and Orendain took turns in the closing rallies to propel the Lifesavers to victory.
Aiza Maizo-Pontillas had 14 points in the loss that dropped the Blaze Spikers to 2-1 ahead of their crucial match against F2 Logistics on Saturday.