Games on Tuesday
(PhilSports Arena)
4 p.m. – Cignal vs Akari
6:30 p.m. – Capital1 vs Farm Fresh
CIGNAL hopes to finish third in the preliminaries and gain a much needed morale booster entering the qualifying round as it clashes with an unpredictable Akari on Tuesday in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the PhilSports Arena.
The HD Spikers are actually bunched with the PLDT High Speed Hitters, their sister squad, and Choco Mucho Flying Titans at No. 3 with identical 7-3 marks, behind Creamline and Petro Gazz’s league-best 9-1 slates.
But a victory over the Chargers, who have split their first 10 matches, in their 4 p.m. collision will seal them outright No. 3 since they will end up with the highest FIVB tiebreaker.
The HD Spikers have also won their last two games including a 25-18, 25-22, 21-25, 25-11 win over the vastly improved ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles on Thursday and a third win in a row should further boost their growing confidence.
Cignal’s re-emergence was sparked by several moving forces, including rookie sensation Ishie Lalongisip, who had helped fill in the massive void left by the departure of Ces Molina and Riri Meneses.
That mental edge would be critical in the playoff round where the top six teams clash with the Nos. 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 and 7 team, respectively, with the winners claiming quarterfinal slots and the losers ending up battling each other for the last berths in the novel playin format.
Meanwhile, Capital1 (1-9) and Farm Fresh (4-6) collide at 6:30 p.m. — Joey Villar