Criollas secure 2nd place as LVSF readies for postseason.

With the five-set victory, Caguas finished the regular season with a 10-10 record and 31 accumulated points, good for second place.

Santurce completes undefeated campaign

By THE STAR STAFF

While the Cangrejeras of Santurce defeated the host Atenienses of Manatí in four sets at Juan Aubín Cruz Coliseum on Wednesday night to finish undefeated in the Women’s Superior Volleyball League (LVSF by its initials in Spanish) regular season, the Criollas of Caguas earned the necessary points to secure second place in the standings heading into the postseason quarterfinals.

In Caguas, the Criollas rallied from a two-set deficit to push a fifth and decisive set and defeat the Valencianas of Juncos with scores of 17-25, 19-25, 25-15, 25-15 and 15-10, thereby earning two of the three available points.

With the victory, Caguas concluded the regular season in second place with a 10-10 record and 31 accumulated points. Last-place Juncos earned one point in the loss and finished 6-14 with 19 points.

The quarterfinals will be divided into two groups:

* Section A: Cangrejeras, Pinkin of Corozal 

and Valencianas

* Section B: Criollas, Atenienses and 

Leonas of Ponce

Following the loss to Santurce, Manatí stood in 4th place with a 7-13 record and 22 accumulated points. Fifth-place Ponce (7-12) had 21 accumulated points, while the Pinkin finished in third place at 9-10 with 27 points.

The Leonas were slated to visit the Pinkin on Thursday night for a match whose outcome was to determine the 4th and 5th positions in the standings.

Moore leads the way for Caguas

In the Criollas’ victory, Jenaisya Moore stood out with 22 points (18 attacks, 1 block and 3 aces), followed by Valeria Flores and Alexandra Sczech, who contributed 12 points each. Genesis Collazo and Alba Hernández added 10 points apiece.

Kelly Sánchez led Juncos with 14 points, while Marcelle Báez and Haley Busch contributed 11 points each.

The Criollas prevailed 66-58 in attacks, 73-71 in digs and 18-16 in assists. Juncos held the edge in blocks (14-11) and passes (36-31).

Santurce completes spotless regular season

In Wednesday night’s other match, the Cangrejeras of Santurce concluded the regular season undefeated (20-0 with 57 accumulated points) after defeating the Atenienses of Manatí on the road in four sets.

The set scores were 25-22, 25-21, 21-25 and 25-20. The feat of running the table in the regular season had not been achieved since Caguas did it in 2005.

Standout performances for Santurce came from Kara McGhee with 19 points, Tamara Otene with 14, Helena Grozer with 13 and Neira Ortiz with 12.

Emily Elliot led Manatí with 17 points, followed by Karla Santos with 16 and Elise Goetzinger with 10.