Chery Tiggo took the first semis berth the hard way, battling back from 1-2 set down with an imposing fourth set romp then thwarting UAI-Army’s repeated fightbacks in the decider to pound out a 22-25, 25-18, 25-27, 25-18, 15-12 victory in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig on Thursday.
Mylene Paat fired 23 points, including four in the fifth set, the last a vicious kill that hit the arm of an Army defender and out of any Lady Trooper reach, capping the Crossovers’ big comeback after losing the extended, tense-filled third set on a Paat mishit.
But the heavy-hitting Chery Tiggo skipper was far from being finished, spearheading the Crossovers’ assault in the fourth and delivering the first point after Royse Tubino scored on back-to-back hits to open the fifth set for the Lady Troopers.
Paat also scored the third point to put Chery Tiggo on top, a lead the Crossovers would never relinquish as they formalized their stint in the next round with five straight wins while dealing the luckless Lady Troopers their fourth straight defeat in the season-ending conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.
The Crossovers also toughened up on net defense, scoring three clutch blocks, including back-to-back off Jovelyn Gonzaga and import Laura Condotta that made it 10-6 for Chery Tiggo after Army threatened at 6-7 on a Gonzaga kill.
Still, the Lady Troopers refused to give up as Tubino took charge and scored three of Army’s last four points, the last putting the team back at 12-14 before Paat soared for another kill that wrapped it all up for the league’s inaugural pro champions.
