Cignal may have bowed to F2 Logistics in Game 1, but it didn’t dampen its spirit, vowing to go all out to claim the equalizer in Game 2 and wrap up their Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference best-of-three finals showdown in an impressive fashion.
HD Spikers’ head coach Edgar Barroga said their confidence remains sky-high despite suffering a sorry 22-25, 24-26, 25-18, 25-17, 8-15 setback to the Cargo Movers in Game 1 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum over the weekend.
Barroga said Game 2 on Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena would be an all-out war as they are very determined to pull off a shocking upset of the Cargo Movers that is very similar to what they did to reigning champion Petron in the semifinals.
“We’re definitely more confident now. We’re more eager to take Game 2,” said Barroga following their setback in the opener of the finals of this prestigious women’s club league bankrolled by Team Rebel Sports, SOGO, Eurotel, PCSO, Cocolife, UCPB Gen, Mueller, Senoh, Asics, Bizooku and One Sport.
After the match, we realized that we can compete with them at a higher level, which definitely boosted our confidence.”
In Game 1, Cignal played with fire in its eyes.
Despite losing the first two sets by razor-thin margins, the HD Spikers stormed back in the third and fourth to force a decider, putting a mammoth crowd at the Big Dome and thousands more watching at home at the edge of their seats.
But the F2 Logistics refused to become Cignal’s latest victim.
Filipino-American spiker Kalei Mau carried the Cargo Movers to an early 9-4 spread before Ara Galang and Desiree Cheng scored to make it 13-6.
Then, Cheng delivered set point before Majoy Baron scored on a block to put the Cargo Movers a win away from reclaiming the title after losing to Petron for the past two years.
It’s still a good motivation for us that we were able to extend the game to five sets. It shows that we can compete with them at a higher level,” skipper Rachel Anne Daquis said.
“We may have lost the match, but we still gained a lot of important lessons that we can use in our next game.”
Daquis said they went through a lot just to get into the finals.
And they will surely fight tooth and nail to become the last team standing.