Playing without Bryan Bagunas, who had to head back to Taiwan to honor a previous commitment with WinStreak after powering the HD Spikers to a similar come-from-behind win over the Criss Cross King Crunchers last Sunday, the HD Spikers relied on the red-hot Umandal, who responded with an impressive 32-attack game he laced with three kill blocks and an ace.
Umandal, who scored 20 points to complement Bagunas' 27-point explosion against the King Crunchers, spiked his fiery performance with 10 excellent receptions and six digs, leading Cignal to its sixth consecutive victory and into the semis of the conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.
“Di ko expected na aabot ako sa ganito kataas. ‘Di kami nanalo dahil lang sakin, dahil sa buong team. So parang ‘di ko siya inisip, gusto ko lang talaga makatulong sa team,” said Umandal.
The HD Spikers crawled back from yet another 1-2 set deficit then seized control in the decisive fifth set to overpower the D’Navigators, racing to a 12-5 advantage on an Umandal drop.
The D’Navigators countered with back-to-back points but the HD Spikers cruised to victory as they capitalized on their opponents’ sloppy plays, closing out the two-hour, nine-minute contest with a 3-0 run, the last two off their rivals' attack errors.
“Pagod eh, parang hindi pa naka-recover doon sa last game namin sa Criss Cross. So, siguro it’s time to give them a break muna. Kailangan talaga nila magpahinga,” said Cignal coach Dexter Clamor.
No other player reached double-digit outputs for Cignal with Wendel Miguel and JP Bugaoan finishing with nine and six points, respectively.
Cian Silang, who replaced EJ Casana in the starting lineup, tossed 24 excellent sets and contributed two points, while Vince Lorenzo and Sandy Montero collected 20 excellent receptions and 11 excellent digs, respectively.
Cignal goes for win No. 7 against VNS-Nasty on April 24 before facing Maverick on April 26.
The D’Navigators absorbed their second straight loss to drop to 4-2, enabling a surging Navy to seize second spot at 5-1.
Francis Saura led the D’Navigators with 19 points while Edward Camposano and Deanne De Pedro contributed 17 and 12 points, respectively.
The D’Navigators expect to snap their skid as they play the also-ran RichMarc Sports 3B side, also on Wednesday.
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