CIGNAL completed a sweep of Pool A after beating defending champion F2 Logistics, 27-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-19, in the Philippine Superliga (PSL) All-Filipino Conference on Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
Jovelyn Gonzaga led Cignal’s charge with 17 spikes for 18 points, while Rachel Anne Daquis and Royse Tubino backed her up with 16 and 15 hits, respectively.
The HD Spikers also had to overcome the height advantage of their opponents, who had seven more blocks with 12. Cignal leaned on 59 kills to highlight the sweep.
“We had like seven service errors in the third set,” Cignal Head Coach George Pascua said. “In the fourth set, I told them to minimize those errors. They made several substitutions so we targeted whoever was fresh off the bench like Cha Cruz and [Ara] Galang.”
The HD Spikers addressed their service errors by nailing four of their nine service aces in the fourth set to seal their third straight win and enter the second round as the top seed in Pool A.
Cignal advanced to the second round in Pool C with the second placer in their group—either F2 Logistics or Petron—along with the top two finishers in Pool B, which is composed of Foton, Generika-Ayala, Cocolife and Cherrylume. The last two placers from both pools will collide in Pool D.
“All of the strong teams are in our bracket so there will be little adjustment for us in Round Two,” said Pascua, whose wards beat competitive teams Petron, Santa Lucia and the reigning champions Cargo Movers.
“The chemistry of our team, especially our setter [Chie Saet], is starting to set in. They already know what to do by just observing the body language of each other. We also had a [training] camp [in Japan] so we had a little bonding. I think that’s our biggest advantage.”
F2 Logistics, a squad composed of players from reigning University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) champion De La Salle, dropped to a 0-2 card in Pool A.
UAAP Most Valuable Player Majoy Baron finished with 14 points for F2 Logiscics, while Kim Dy had nine points.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza