EST Cola sweeps Farm Fresh, joins PVL Invitational chase

Games Thursday

1:30 p.m. — Farm Fresh vs. Creamline

4 p.m. — Ho Chi Minh vs. PLDT

6:30 p.m. — EST Cola vs. Nxled

QUEZON CITY — EST Cola took a page out of Nxled’s playbook Tuesday — not by trying to sustain a fast start, but by showing the greater value of knowing how to recover when things begin to sputter.

Once the Thais found their bearings and rhythm, there was little the Farm Fresh Foxies could do to stop them.

EST Cola shook off a shaky opening, made the necessary adjustments, and quickly settled into a disciplined, no-nonsense brand of volleyball, turning a potentially troublesome start into a convincing 25-21, 25-16, 25-22 victory over the Foxies in the PVL Invitational at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

It was a victory that went beyond the sweep.

With setter Natnicha Saelao making her presence felt in both playmaking and net defense, EST Cola mounted a furious fightback in the opening set, dominated the second, and unleashed a strong finishing kick in a tense third-set endgame.

The Thais squandered a 20-16 lead in the third set but broke a 21-all tie with a decisive four-point run.

Nirarach Srikuta delivered a powerful hit, Papatchaya Phontham followed with an ace, and Trisha Tubu sent her attack long to put EST Cola in control.

Phontham served long on the next play, but it only delayed the inevitable.

Saelao then fooled the Farm Fresh defense by shaping up as if to set before delivering a clever hook to Zone 6 for the match-clinching one-two play.

The one-hour, 22-minute victory improved EST Cola to 1-1 and initially created a four-way tie in the six-team tournament.

Creamline later swept Ho Chi Minh City, 25-18, 25-16, 25-6, to improve to 2-0 and take the solo lead, leaving EST Cola, Farm Fresh, Nxled, and PLDT tied at 1-1.

More importantly for EST Cola, the victory offered a glimpse of what the Thais could become in the tournament.

The Thais showed the ability to identify what was not working, make adjustments on the fly, and return to the fundamentals of discipline, speed, composure, and collective defense.

Against Farm Fresh, those traits turned a 14-18 deficit in the opening set into the beginning of a three-set statement.

Phontham led EST Cola with 17 points, while Srikuta and Nannaphat Moonjakham added nine apiece.

Nattharika Wasan and Saelao chipped in seven points each.

Saelao shone brightest with 22 excellent sets — 10 more than Farm Fresh counterpart Louie Romero — and four blocks to the delight of coach Wanna Buakaew.

“Today, we are so happy because of our teamwork, and I helped in everything,” said Saelao. “I was so excited for today and a bit pressured.”

“Thank you for the experience and thank you to the Filipino fans for coming here. Thank you for everything,” she added.

EST Cola dominated the key statistical categories, out-attacking Farm Fresh 41-34, holding an 8-4 advantage in blocks, and edging the Foxies 5-4 in aces.

The Thais also capitalized on 21 points off Farm Fresh’s errors while conceding 17 of their own.

Coming off a 25-point performance against Ho Chi Minh, Tubu was held to 15 points.

Ces Molina and Ara Galang added nine and seven points, respectively, as coach Koji Tsuzurabara struggled to get consistent scoring support from the rest of the roster.

The victory was also a display of character and composure from an under-25 EST Cola squad determined to redeem itself after a lackluster opening-day performance.

EST Cola absorbed a four-set defeat to PLDT in Monday’s opener of the nine-day competition, leaving the Thais with little time to dwell on what went wrong.

Like Nxled, which earlier stunned defending champion PLDT in straight sets, EST Cola showed that an opening loss did not have to dictate what came next.

The response was immediate.

The Thais recalibrated, tightened their defense, rediscovered their rhythm, and played with greater patience and discipline.

Farm Fresh, meanwhile, paid dearly after failing to protect its early advantage.

The EST Cola side that had looked tentative against PLDT was replaced by a composed, aggressive, and well-organized squad that moved the ball with purpose and defended relentlessly.

The Thais carried that momentum into the second set and seized a 16-12 lead before pulling away for a nine-point win.

Farm Fresh, which had beaten Ho Chi Minh City in four sets a day earlier, struggled to keep pace as EST Cola dictated the tempo.

The Thais opened an 8-6 lead in the third set and repeatedly frustrated Farm Fresh’s comeback attempts with floor defense, timely blocks, and pressure at the net on the way to a 20-16 advantage.

Although Farm Fresh rallied to tie the set at 21, EST Cola regrouped and delivered the strong finish it needed to complete the sweep.

The Invitational uses a single-round-robin format, with all six teams facing each other once before the top two advance to a winner-take-all championship match.