CIGNAL ended its frustrating first round on a high note as it blanked Amy’s Kitchen in straight sets, 25-21, 25-12, 25-21, in 2016 Philippine Superliga (PSL) All-Filipino Conference women’s volleyball tournament on Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Middle hitter Jeanette Panaga scattered 12 spikes, five blocks and an ace for 18 points, while Cherry May Vivas chipped in 10 hits to help the HD Spikers earned the win before heading to the second-round classifications of the interclub league bankrolled by KLab Cyscorpions, Asics, Mikasa, Mueller and Senoh with TV5 as official broadcast partner.
“Kahit nanalo kami hindi ako satisfied kasi, as I said before, ’yung pinapakita nila sa ensayo hindi ganun kaganda sa actual game,” Cignal Head Coach Sammy Acaylar said.
“Maybe there’s something wrong psychologically with my players, kasi napapansinko sa kanila kapag nauunahan biglang nada-down, hindi nila alam paano i-recover ’yung sarili nila,” he added.
After prevailing in a tight first set, the HD Spikers sizzled in the second set, mounted a 16-11 lead and scored nine of the last 10 points to take the commanding 2-0 match advantage.
Cignal was starting to pull away in the third set with a 23-17 cushion but Amy’s Kitchen trimmed it to 23-21 to give the Acaylar-coached squad some anxious moments.
But Vivas and Carmela Tunay cemented the victory of the HD Spikers with crucial points.
Cignal finished the first round with two wins against five losses, while Amy’s Kitchen, which was led by Cindy Imbo’s13-point output, finished the round winless after seven matches
The second round starts on Sunday with all the records of the bottom four teams—Standard Insurance-Navy, Generika, Cignal and Amy’s Kitchen going back to zero and will play another single-round robin to determine the fifth to eighth placers.
“In-accept ko naman ’yung mga talo namin at kahit hindi kami nakapasok sa top 4, but then, it’s a lesson learned for us,” Acaylar said. “Now we’re focusing sa Group B. Sabi ko sa kanila we’ll just play at ipakita sa mga tao at management na kahit ganoon ang nangyari we have to bounce back and give our best in PSL.”
RC Cola-Army, F2 Logistics, Petron and Foton are all locked in the final four and will clash for another single-round robin in the second round to determine the semifinal pairings.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza