Valencianas, Pinkin & Cangrejeras start LVSF Week 6 with wins

Haley Bush’s 27 points helped the Valencianas of Juncos come from behind to defeat the Leonas of Ponce in five sets.

By THE STAR STAFF

The start of the sixth week of the Women’s Superior Volleyball League (LVSF by its initials in Spanish) season saw the Valencianas of Juncos, the Pinkin of Corozal and the Cangrejeras of Santurce emerge victorious on Wednesday night.

At Rafael G. Amalbert Coliseum in Juncos, the Valencianas rallied from a 2-1 deficit in sets to force a tiebreaker, in which they prevailed, and split the points with the Leonas of Ponce.

Ponce took the 2-1 sets lead when, in the third set, they broke a 22-22 tie with a spike from newly signed Nia Parker Robinson, who was effective in attacking against the hands of the Juncos block at position two. On the next play, a well-placed spike from Jordan Wilson from the back row gave them the set point.

The Juncos team responded with two consecutive points, including a block on Abby Akey, to even the set and force extra points. After another tie at 25, two consecutive attacks by Wilson from zone four secured the set win for the Leonas.

Juncos regrouped, won the fourth set, and in the fifth, they pulled away to a 9-3 lead with an attack by Leandra Mangual from zone two. The Valencianas reached set point at 14-6 with Haley Bush scoring from zone four, and went on to seal the victory after an attack error by Stephanie Enright.

The scores were 19-25, 25-18, 25-27, 25-21, 15-9.

With the win, Juncos added two points and improved its record to 4-9 with 12 points accumulated. Ponce (4-8) added one point and also has 12 points overall.

On offense, Bush stood out for the Valencianas with 27 points, followed by Marcelle Báez, Naya Gross and Mangual with 11 points each, in addition to Kelly Sánchez’s 10 points.

Wilson was the top scorer for Ponce with 22 points.

On the legendary Carmen Z. Figueroa Court in Corozal, the Pinkin defeated the Criollas of Caguas in straight sets with scores of 26-24, 25-19 and 25-18.

Corozal earned all three available points to improve their record to 7-5 with 21 points, remaining in third place. The Criollas, who suffered their second consecutive loss -- the fifth in their last six matches -- remain in second place with a 7-6 record and 22 points.

The Pinkin’s double-digit offense was led by Jordan Iliff with 15 points, all on attacks, and Ivania Ortiz with 13 points, while Adriana Rodríguez added 11 points and Sharlissa de Jesús contributed 10.

Alexandra Sczech led Caguas with 14 points and Génesis Collazo added 10.

The game between the Cangrejeras of Santurce and the Atenienses of Manatí at Juan Aubin Cruz Coliseum was forfeited in favor of visiting Santurce.