FOTON vented its ire on Cocolife and ran away with a straight-set 25-17, 25-16, 25-17 victory to snatch third place in the Chooks-to-Go Philippine Superliga (PSL) Grand Prix on Tuesday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Mending their broken poise and aching hearts after being dethroned by Petron in the knockout semifinals, 28-30, 25-21, 23-25, 25-21, the Tornadoes came up with a strong bounce back to end their season with a win, dominating Cocolife all-game long especially in the blocking department with and eight-to-nil performance.
“It’s okay. This conference was very difficult for us because that one loss to Petron cost us our whole conference,” Foton Head Coach Moro Branislav said. “But as you saw it, my players still played like this is a normal game and really wanted to win against Cocolife, which is a very good team.”
Jaja Santiago Foton with a game-high 17 points built on 10 spikes, four blocks and three aces. Imports Sara Klisura and Dragana Perunicic chipped in 13 and 11 hits, respectively, while Maika Ortiz added eight hit.
Setter Ivy Perez was also instrumental with 22 excellent sets, while reinforcement libero Katarina Vukomanovic protected the floor with 12 digs and six receptions.
Cocolife, on the other hand, leaned on American imports Shar Latai Manu-Olevao and Taylor Milton, who put up 16 and 10 points, respectively.
Despite settling for fourth place, it was the best finish for the Asset Managers who joined the league only this year.
Branislav, however, said he is uncertain of his future at Foton because his contract with the team expires this month.
“I don’t know if they are going tyo hire me again. We haven’t talk about it yet. Maybe yes or maybe mo,” the Serbian said.
Branislav and the Tornadoes won seven of their eight preliminary round games and ousted Sta. Lucia in the knockout quarterfinals only to collapse against Petron in the semifinals.