After a stinging loss to rival Criss Cross, defending champion Cignal vented its frustration on a struggling PGJC-Navy squad, cruising to a 25-19, 25-14, 25-21 victory in the 2025 Spikers’ Turf Invitational Conference on Wednesday at the Paco Arena.
Determined to shake off the sting of last Sunday’s setback, the Super Spikers came out firing, displaying urgency and composure to wrap up the one-hour and 16-minute victory. The win improved their record to 3-1, securing solo second place behind the unbeaten King Crunchers (4-0) in the season-ending tournament organized by Sports Vision.
“Actually, ‘yung body language nila nung pagkatalo sa Criss Cross, damang-dama namin sa training,” said Cignal head coach Dexter Clamor. “Sabi ko lang sa kanila, dapat ‘yun ang maging motivation natin coming into this game.”
Despite the straight-sets victory, Clamor wasn’t entirely pleased with his team’s showing.
“Hindi rin naging maganda ‘yung performance namin ngayon. Marami pa ring kailangang idagdag at i-polish. It’s really more about refining our system,” he added.
Fielding a new set of starters, Cignal relied on a balanced offensive attack and capitalized on 27 unforced errors by the Sealions to complete the bounce-back win.
Jay Rack De La Noche spearheaded the Super Spikers with 10 points, all off attacks. Fil-Am hitter Jared Schnake impressed in his first start, tallying six points and 14 excellent receptions. Skipper JP Bugaoan and Lloyd Josafat chipped in six markers apiece, while Steven Rotter and Louie Ramirez contributed five each.
Cignal looks to build momentum when it faces Far Eastern University-DN Steel on Friday at 6 p.m., still at Paco Arena.
Meanwhile, PGJC-Navy suffered its fourth straight loss, but found a bright spot in the return to form of top scorer Joeven Dela Vega, who delivered a game-high 13 points—his best performance since recovering from a lung illness.
Team captain Greg Dolor added eight points and 12 excellent receptions, while Anfernee Curamen contributed five in limited action during the third set.
The Sealions will try to finally break into the win column when they take on Savouge on Sunday, 1 p.m., at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.
