After a shutout loss to Creamline and a five-set escape over Akari, Chery Tiggo finally got on track, driving past newcomer Gerflor, 25-19, 25-20, 25-18, to enhance its semifinal bid in the Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig on Thursday.
But the Crossovers remained far from reaching their true potential as they scrambled and struggled to try to find chemistry and impose their will early, enabling the inspired Defenders to take control early in the first two sets.
Mylene Paat, however, took over and provided not only the needed spark on offense but more so the leadership, and the Crossovers re-asserted their might and closed out the first two sets in commanding fashions before cruising in the third to complete the one-hour, 40-minute victory.
Chery Tiggo thus improved to 2-1, stalking unbeaten Creamline (2-0) in the five-team Pool A play although PLDT is just behind at 1-0 with the Cool Smashers and the High Speed Hitters clashing in a key duel later in another busy day in the single round robin elims of the mid-season conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.
“I’m very happy with how they played but definitely there’s still a lot of things that we need to improve on,” said Chery Tiggo coach Aaron Velez. “Kailangan maging mabilis ang start namin, so that’s one thing I think that we have to pick up. I also like that fact that everybody was able to step up.”
“Kailangan namin i-work out ang chemistry namin, yung communication dapat maging smooth in preparation for our next match,” added Velez, whose wards will close out their elims campaign against the High Speed Hitters on Tuesday.
Paat fired 15 points to lead the Crossovers’ charge with Velez drawing seven-point outputs from Ponggay Gaston, EJ Laure, and Cza Carandang. Rookies Imee Hernandez and Eya Laure added six and three markers, respectively.
“Hindi lang puntos sa spike ang kailangan, kung kailangan na magdagdag sa ibang skills, like blocking and serve, malaking tulong na yun sa mga teammates ko at happy ako na nakapag-perform ako,” said Paat, who added four blocks to clinch the game’s top honors.
Despite absorbing their second straight loss and virtually bowing out of the semis battle, the Defenders showed a lot of promise with their combo of talents, including rookies Ly Bertolano and Ethan Arce.
Bertolano banged in 12 attack points and posted two kill blocks to match Paat’s 15-point output while fellow former UP Lady Maroon Arce added four markers in a one-and-a-half set stint.
Skipper Justine Dorog finished with seven points while Janine Navarro scored five points for the Defenders, who surprised the league’s first pro champions with a strong start and held their ground until the Crossovers found their rhythm and gained control late with their power and experience.