HD Spikers claim last semis berth

MANILA, Philippines — Cignal overcame a fierce first-set challenge by Gerflor before going on an unforgiving spiking spree in the last two in hammering out a 25-22, 25-11, 25-10 win yesterday that sealed its semifinal entry in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the PhilSports Arena.

Invitational Conference MVP Ces Molina and Vanie Gandler were in their elements, firing nine and eight points, respectively, while Gen Casugod came off the bench and chipped in nine hits as the HD Spikers sealed an 8-3 record and completed the semis cast.

Cignal also clinched the No. 3 seed as it emerged with the better tiebreaker over Chery Tiggo (8-3) and thus forged a best-of-three showdown with No. 2 Choco Mucho (10-1) starting tomorrow also at the Pasig venue.

The Crossovers, in contrast, fell to No. 4 and arranged a semis face-off with No. 1 Creamline, also a best-of-three affair.

“Syempre sobrang happy and blessed sa lahat ng pinagdaanan naming hirap, ngayon semis na, at nag No. 3 pa kami,” said Cignal coach Shaq delos Santos, stressing though that work isn’t done yet.

For the semis, Molina said they would need to focus on making themselves stronger against a Choco Mucho team that beat them during the elimination round.

“First mindset is to focus on our strength, yun nawala sa amin dito sa elims,” said Molina.

Gandler, for her part, said collective team effort would be key.

“Focus on teamwork, we’re going to work on this one,” she said.

The Defenders closed out without a single win in 11 outings.

In the other game, Creamline survived an opening-set meltdown and trounced Galeries Tower, 19-25, 25-16, 25-14, 25-13, to complete an 11-game elims sweep.

The Highrisers fell to 1-10.