JP Bugaoan. Photo from Spikers’ Turf
MANILA, Philippines – Cignal kicked off his quest to redeem the title with a dramatic 25-19, 25-18, 25-17 win over Sta. Rosa during the Spikers’ Turf Open Conference 2023 on Friday at Paco Arena.
Finishing in runner-up last year after being dethroned by National University, HD Spikers proved that anyone on their team can deliver because coach Dexter Clamor has the luxury of using it. Use all your eyes and try different rotations and combinations.
JP Bugaoan featured 15 points, hitting 10 of his 16 breakout attempts and scoring 5 of Cignal’s 11 blocks to beat Sta. Rosa lost her second match in a row after just one hour and 22 minutes.
Cignal star Marck Espejo scored just six points, playing only in the first two sets. But the other HD Spikers served with Wendel Miguel scoring eight points with an effective 6/10 strike in the first two sets, while substitute Gadpray Aresgado tested in the second set but made his presence He is marked with 5 points.
New HD Spikers scorer EJ Casana made a convincing debut with a stellar 13-set and unleashed three aces to finish with four points, as Ysay Marasigan, Alfred Valbuena and Peter Torres each added more. five points in their first mission of the season.
Coach Cignal Clamor commended all of his scorers for contributing at least one point but he wanted to address their errors immediately after making 21 fouls in the game.
“We had a lot of failures that couldn’t be done, specifically service failures. I think they are still adjusting to the atmosphere because the atmosphere in the game is different from the training session,” Clamor said in Filipino. “But it’s good to see from my team that anyone can deliver and do anyone’s checks in court.”
“We will play better in the next games and we will fix our flaws in this one,” he added.
The City Lions slipped to a 0-2 record, following a four-set loss to Imus last Sunday.
No one from Sta. Rosa scored twice as many points with Anrie Bakil and substitute Kevin Montemayor leading with nine points each.
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