Cignal HD Spikers. PVL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Cignal lost to Petro Gazz, 14-25, 21-25, 27-25, 19-25, but still secured a spot in the First Final at the 2022 Premier League Volleyball League Enhanced Congress thanks to Tuesday’s dominant fixture at the Philsports Arena.
The HD Spikers finally made their breakthrough in the final after the Angels took a 24-21 lead in the third set. Petro Gazz, who took the top 30 in the game from Lindsey Vander Weide, needed to beat Cignal in consecutive sets to claim a championship spot.
Angels and HD Spikers ended the semi-finals with a similar 2-1 scoreline.
Tai Bierria wanted HD Spikers to score four of her 15 points in the third innings to give her team the lead, 26-25, before Ria Meneses made the winning strike, giving Cignal her first entry. PVL final.
HD Spikers celebrated inside the field after winning the third set, knowing that in the event of a three-point tie with a score of 2-1 and six points, they would still walk away with the highest score of seven sets. won and four sets lost.
Petro Gazz still has a chance to arrange one of the best three finals against Cignal on Thursday if Creamline loses to Chery Tiggo or if the Cool Smashers and Crossovers duel drags to five sets.
A win over Creamline in three or four sets would see the Cool Smashers reach the final for the eighth time in a row against Reinforced Conference 2019 champion Petro Gazz.
The Angels fought back from a 14-15 deficit in the fourth set as Vander Weide burned through their 5-0 lead to take a 20-15 lead before Bierria shortened the lead to a two-point set, 21-19, but Petro Gazz scored four consecutive goals capped by the 30th point of American imports to win the game.
“Cignal clearly fought for it. They didn’t want us to have it in three sets. Vander Weide said there are also some mistakes that I personally have made, such as occurring due to too much pure energy. “But, obviously we came back in the fourth round, and that was great. But of course, we’d love to do it in three hours.”
With fate still depending on the outcome of the second game in progress, Petro Gazz coach Rald Ricafort accepted the result after a convincing win where his locals also stepped up. .
“We will endure as long as we win. Sayang but we really want to win this game. We will wait for the results of the second game,” Ricafort said in Filipino. “Our fate is no longer in our hands. But at least we worked hard. Expectations are very high. We need to win consecutive sets but even if we don’t, at least we won.”
MJ Phillips also boosted the Angels with 13 points on seven blocks, four attacks and one trump card. Aiza Maizo-Pontillas has 10 points, Remy Palma added 7 points and goalscorer Djanel Cheng also scored 7 points in a total of 16 excellent sets.
Cignal was taken by Bierria’s 15-point effort. Meneses have eight markers, while Rose Doria and Ces Molina each have seven markers with Gel Cayuna beating 22 sets excellently with six points from three aces.
While they are certain to make it to the Finals, HD Spikers coach Shaq Delos Santos asked permission from their team manager Ken Ucang in an interview.
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