CHERY Tiggo and Cignal seek to sew up the two remaining quarterfinals berths as they take on two teams trying to stay in the chase go in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the Philsports Arena today.

Fresh from convincing wins in the opening day of the Play-In tournament last Thursday, the Crossovers take on Farm Fresh at 4 p.m., while the HD Spikers tangle with ZUS Coffee in the 6:30 p.m. mainer.

Seeking a follow up from last Thursday’s 25-22, 26-24, 25-12 conquest of Nxled, Chery Tiggo hopes to become the Pool B winners and forge a best-of-three quarters duel with defending champion and top-ranked Creamline.

Hoping to sustain the momentum of its 25-21, 22-25, 25-17, 25-15 victory over Capital1, Cignal will go for a two-match sweep of Pool A and arrange a quarterfinals showdown with PetroGazz, the No. 2 team in the preliminaries.

The other quarterfinals pairings pits Galeries Towers against Akari, and PLDT opposite Choco Mucho.

However, the Foxies and the Thunderbelles are determined to defy the odds and keep their quarterfinal hopes alive, which will also allow the Chameleons and the Solar Spikers to remain in the hunt.

A pair of reversals would turn Thursday’s matchday into a decisive, all-or-nothing showdown for the last two quarterfinal slots. Farm Fresh will play Nxled while ZUS Coffee go up against Capital1.

The Crossovers hope to get the job done to avoid any potential tiebreak complications, but coach Norman Miguel, however, remains wary of the Foxies’ hunger and tenacity.

“Our mindset is really to maintain that killer instinct, and hopefully, we can carry it over to our game against Farm Fresh. We also need to keep up our teamwork, listen to our coaches, and once we gain the lead, we have to keep pushing hard because these games are no joke. We’re going all out,” said Shaya Adorador, who played well on both ends of the floor against the Chameleons.

By reaching the quarterfinals is an achievement for the HD Spikers, who overcame the departure of some of their key players at the start of the New Year.

“We’re always looking at the brighter side of every situation because if we focus on the negatives, nothing good will happen to our team. It’s like a blessing in disguise since we get to play more games and encounter situations where we can learn how to handle things better, which we can carry over to our future matches,” said Ishie Lalongisip on Cignal’s mindset in this Play-In.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Theodore P. Jurado