Cangrejeras are a win away from a perfect regular season.

Santurce’s Wilmarie Rivera (12) and Ponce’s Abby Akey meet at the net. The Cangrejeras are a win away from an undefeated regular season.

By THE STAR STAFF

The ninth and penultimate week of the Women’s Superior Volleyball League (LVSF by its initials in Spanish) regular season concluded on Sunday night with the 19th victory for the first-place Cangrejeras of Santurce as they swept the Leonas of Ponce in straight sets in their final home match at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Hato Rey.

With the triumph, Santurce (19-0, 54 accumulated points) secured the maximum three available points, leaving them just one victory away from completing the regular season undefeated.

The set scores were 28-26, 25-17 and 25-14.

Holding a two-sets-to-none lead, the Cangrejeras were in control at the second technical timeout of the third set with the scoreboard reading 16-9, thanks to a block by Kara McGhee against Ponce’s Kristin Lux, who was attacking from Zone 4.

A few points later, a triple block on Lux made the score 18-11 and Santurce never looked back, eventually building a 10-point lead (23-13) following a successful spike by Helena Grozer.

Set point arrived at 24-14 when Neira Ortiz controlled a ball at the net, and the victory was sealed on the very next play when Stephanie Enright of the Leonas missed a spike from Zone 4, sending the ball out of bounds.

The Cangrejeras outplayed Ponce 48-41 in attacks, 10-2 in blocks and 4-1 in service aces. Both teams recorded 56 defensive plays, while the Leonas held the edge in passing (37-29) and assists (18-10). The Santurce offense featured three players in double figures: Tamara Otene, Andrea Rangel, and Grozer, who scored 21, 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Jordan Wilson was the only Ponce player to score in double digits, with 12 points.