Cignal HD advances to semifinals – BusinessWorld Online

CIGNAL HD overpowered a hapless Bali Pure, 25-14, 25-9, 25-14, on Monday to claim the first berth to the semifinals of the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference in a memorable game at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan where fans were let in for the first time in three years.

Crisp-spiking Ces Molina spearheaded the carnage with 12 hits including 11 on attacks while Roselyn Doria scattered 11 as the HD Spikers moved on to the best-of-three semis set on Friday.

There, Cignal will battle the winner between Petro Gazz, the Pool B No. 2, and F2 Logistics, the Pool A No. 3, in the latter two’s intriguing showdown tonight.

And the HD Spikers did not leave anything to chance as they dominated the Purest Water Defenders at the onset and never really relented from there to claim the former’s fifth straight win after sweeping Pool A in four outings.

So dominating were the HD Spikers that no Bali Pure players scored more than five points.

Maria Angelica Cayuna continued to impress as she dished out 26 excellent sets in just three short sets while chipping in three hits while Cignal’s net defense remained nearly impenetrable with nine on this game including four by Riri Meneses.

It was an almost impeccable game for Cignal that Shaq delos Santos came into the post-game interview impressed.

“The whole of elimination was really a tough grind that we had little chance to prepare for our opponents,” said Mr. Delos Santos. “But we got that opportunity to prepare on this one against this team (Bali Pure) that’s why we played our best game thus far.”

The return of fans was also instrumental in boosting the team’s morale. “It’s a great feeling to have fans cheering for us again. They were an added inspiration to us,” said Mr. Delos Santos.

Meanwhile, No. 2 Choco Mucho, shoots to join Cignal to the semis as it clashes with PLDT at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. — Joey Villar