Cignal recovers to beat Sta. Lucia
CIGNAL HD recovered from a horrible third set to beat Sta. Lucia, 25-22, 25-18, 13-25, 25-20, and barge into the win column yesterday in the PVL Open Conference at the PCV Socio-Civic & Cultural Center, Bacarra.
Janine Marciano, who became one of the HD Spikers’ main weapons with the departure of Jovelyn Gonzaga, sustained her solid play, scoring all but one of her 14 points from attacks.
Earning his first win as Cignal coach, Shaq delos Santos was happy the way his troops bouncing back from last Monday’s 16-25, 13-25, 19-25 loss to pre-tournament favorite Chery Tiggo.
“Nakaka-proud. Ang bilis ng adjustment imagine one day wala kami laro and then may laro na ulit. Good thing kahit papano lumalabas preparation namin,” said Delos Santos, who was the national team coach in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
“Hopefully mas mag-improve pa kasi talagang nasa process kami ng transition ng team, sipag lang din. Proud kami, lahat maganda naging performance hopefully ma-maintain,” he added.
The Lady Realtors failed to sustain their dominant third set performance as the HD Spikers regrouped behind Marciano to close out the match.
Cignal raised its record to 1-1, while sending Sta. Lucia to its second consecutive setback.
Roselyn Doria had team-highs five blocks and three service aces to finish with 14 points, May Luna added 10 points while new HD Spikers playmaker Ayel Estrañero tossed in 18 excellent sets.
One of the longest-tenured Cignal players, Marciano is happy the way her teammates responded after losing the season opener.
“Nag-enjoy ang team. I’m very happy nagtutulungan kami, hindi lang ako, lahat nag step up. Coaches are very supportive and talagang titnutukan kami bawat galawa naming sa court. Team effort talaga,” said Marciano.
Skipper Rachel Anne Daquis, who had eight points, sparkled in the other skills departments for the HD Spikers with 10 receptions and nine digs, while libero Jheck Dionela collected 14 digs.
MJ Philips led the Lady Realtors with 20 points, including two blocks, Aiza Maizo-Pontillas chipped in 15 points and 14 digs while Jovie Prado fired five of her 11 points from service aces to go with seven receptions.
