Defending champion Blue One Resort reclaims the PBA Team League lead in one day.

On the fifth day of the second round of the Welcome Savings Bank PBA Team League 2023-2024 at the Goyang Kintex PBA Stadium in Goyang City, Gyeonggi-do, on the 20th, Blue One Resort defeated SK Rent-a-Car 4-1 in straight sets, led by the performance of ‘Ace’ David Zapata (Spain), to take sole possession of the lead with 12 points.

Zapata’s performance shone from the first set. After a protracted 13-game first set, Zapata and Chan Chapak (Turkiye) combined for eight kills and three points to take an 11-4 lead over Ngo Dinh Nai (Vietnam) and Eddy Repens (Belgium). In the second set, Song Pheavy (Cambodia)-Kim Min-young (Korea) lost 5-9 (13 games) to Hida Oriie (Japan)-Kang Ji-eun, but Zapata quickly made it 3-1 with a high-run six-point win over Kang Dong-gung in the third set, 15-5 (7 games), and a one-point victory over Kang Min-gu and Kim Min-young in the fourth set, 9-7 (8 games).

In the fifth set, Chapak sealed the win for the team against Ngo. After taking the lead and scoring two runs in the first inning, Chapak scored one run in the second inning and seven runs in the third inning to quickly jump out to a 10-3 lead after three innings, and closed out the match with an 11-3 run in the seventh inning to win the set 4-1.

With this win, Blue One Resort quickly regrouped after finishing the first round at the bottom of the standings (3-5, 6 points) and regained their ‘defending champion’ form, taking the lead over second-place Eswai (11 points) after one day.

In other matches of the day, Crown HaeTae extended its winning streak to two games with a 4-0 straight-sets victory over Hi-One Resort, while the Huons secured a hard-fought full-set victory over Eswai thanks to a strong performance from Choi Sung-won, Kim Se-yeon and Semi Saigner (Turkiye). Hanacard, who had snapped a two-game losing streak the day before, also made it two wins in a row, defeating Welcome Savings Bank 4-2 in straight sets. 안전놀이터

With the second round earning its return points, Day 6 of the second round will see NHK Card take on Eswai at 12 noon, followed by Crown HaeTae-Welcome Savings Bank at 3 p.m., Huons-Blue One Resort at 6 p.m., and Hana Card take on SK Rent-a-Car at 9 p.m. The two teams will have a day off. Hiwon Resort will take a day off.