Cangrejeras are a win away from LVSF championship.

Santurce prevailed in most statistical categories on Monday night: 43-36 in attacks, 12-1 in blocks, 3-1 in aces, 56-49 in digs and 19-17 in assists. Ponce held the edge in passing, 34-30. (Heriberto Rosario Rosa – FPV)

By THE STAR STAFF

With their ninth consecutive set win, the Cangrejeras of Santurce moved to within just one victory of hoisting the Women’s Superior Volleyball League (LVSF by its initials in Spanish) championship trophy on Monday night after defeating the Leonas of Ponce in three sets in the third match of the Finals series held at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Hato Rey.

Ponce once again faced the night without the services of their top attacker, Sherridan Atkinson, or their starting setter, Raymariely Santos -- both sidelined by physical ailments. Atkinson has not seen any action in the series, while Santos has been out since the third set of Match 1.

The final scores for Match 3 were 25-16, 25-19 and 25-18.

The Cangrejeras’ offense was distributed among Madison Kingdon, Andrea Rangel and Helena Grozer, who tallied 16, 13 and 12 points, respectively. Nataly García led Ponce with 14 points, while Claire Chaussee added nine points, and Stephanie Enright had eight.

Santurce prevailed in most statistical categories: 43-36 in attacks, 12-1 in blocks, 3-1 in aces, 56-49 in digs, and 19-17 in assists. The Leonas held the edge in passing, 34-30.

Match recap

Holding a one-set lead, Santurce secured the second set by pulling away to a 23-17 advantage following a block by Neira Ortiz on García. Set point arrived at 24-18 on a successful spike by Rangel from Zone 2, and Grozer closed out the set 25-19 with an attack from Zone 4.

The third set followed the exact same script. The Cangrejeras reached the second technical timeout leading 16-11 following an attack by Rangel, and then locked down the set, reaching set point at 24-18 with a spike by Kingdon. Kingdon herself sealed the match with a direct ace.

Reactions from both sides

After the match, Enright acknowledged that the absence of key players hasn’t benefited Ponce’s rhythm, though she emphasized that that cannot serve as an excuse.

“Sometimes we come out with low energy,” the veteran hitter said. “I don’t know if it’s due to the fact that we are missing two major players from our team, but that cannot be an excuse. We have to give credit where it’s due to Santurce, which has a very complete team, from their starting lineup right down to their reserves.”

Looking ahead to tonight’s fourth match (8 p.m.) at Juan “Pachín” Vicéns Auditorium in Ponce, Enright was clear about the message in the locker room.

“We have to come in with nothing to lose,” she said. “We’ve displayed our best volleyball all season long through practice, gameplay and sacrifice. We have to leave it all out on the court.”

Cangrejeras captain Andrea Rangel highlighted that the key to Santurce’s dominance has been internal cohesion.

“I think it comes down to confidence and consistency,” she said. “Each player has her own role and job, and everyone is doing her part. When we bring it all together, it helps us achieve our objective: winning every game.”

“It’s going to be a challenge because it’s a different venue; we haven’t played there very much,” Rangel added regarding the expectation of closing out the series on the road tonight. “But we have confidence in our work -- work we’ve been building all season long to reach this very moment. We are focused on achieving our goal: the championship.”

If Ponce should extend the series, a fifth match would be played this Friday at Roberto Clemente Coliseum.