Chery Tiggo wore down Cignal HD in a draining back-and-forth duel and seized the early solo lead with a 25-23, 20-25, 25-21, 25-20 victory in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference eliminations at the Philsports Arena in Pasig on Saturday.
Cza Carandang hammered out key hits in the crucial third set as the Crossovers wrested control after the two teams split the first two then held sway in the fourth to complete the victory, their second straight following a straight-set triumph over an undermanned F2 Logistics side last Tuesday.
Chery Tiggo, which stunned Creamline in last year’s Open Conference in bubble setup in faraway Ilocos Norte to claim the bragging rights as champion of the inaugural pro staging of the country’s premier volley league, thus found itself on top of the nine-team field following poor starts in this year’s Open and Invitational tournament due to injuries to key players and personnel loss.
But with a healthy crew and a winning mindset, the Crossovers are back in the control as skipper Mylene Paat surpassed her 16-point game against F2 Logistics with a 19-point showing and Montegrin Jelena Cvijovic, who struggled for just six points against the Cargo Movers, doubled her output to help anchor Chery TIggo’s win.
EJ Laure also matched her 11-point performance the first time out but it was Carandang who stepped up big, firing 12 attack points on her way to a 14-point exploit.
“We just did what our skipper (Paat) told us to do – play our best. Whatever the result, for as long we do what we’ve been doing in training, our game will just flow. Bonus na lang pag nanalo,” said Carandang.
Keeping it close in the first three sets, the HD Spikers lost steam in the fourth although they put up one last stand to threaten at 20-23, only to fall short as the Crossovers took the next two points to wrap up the one-hour, 52-minute match.
American import Tai Bierria slowed down with a 19-point game after pouring in 25 points in their four-set romp over Akari last weekend while Ces Molina added 10 hits and Chay Troncoso, Roselyn Doria and Rachel Anne Daquis combined for 22 points for the HD Spikers, who slipped to joint fourth with PLDT, Choco Mucho and Akari.
