Cignal quickly recovered from an erratic start and halted De La Salle-EcoOil's unbeaten run, 25-21, 25-12, 25-19, to firm up its semifinal drive in the 2024 Spikers’ Turf Invitational Conference at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City on Friday.
The HD Spikers thus notched their fourth straight win, hiking their record to 5-1 for solo second behind the 6-0 DN Steel FEU heading into the stretch of the preliminaries in the season-ending conference of the men’s league organized by Sports Vision.
“I’m very happy lalo na nung second set na ang errors namin ay four lang. I was quite pissed off during the first set kasi we had 10 errors… I’m very happy kasi alam naman natin ang mga bata aggressive yan,” said Cignal head coach Dexter Clamor.
“During the huddle, I told my players you were the star players in your teams during your collegiate years. It’s not yabang, it’s pride na talented tayong lahat, university ang kalaban na mas bata sa atin, dapat hindi tayo magpapatalo,” added the champion mentor.
After being dominated in the second frame, a reinvigorated La Salle side came out strong in the third period, wresting a 12-10 lead.
But La Salle product and now Cignal spiker JM Ronquillo, together with Louie Ramirez took over for the HD Spikers to put their side ahead before Wendel Miguel and Lloyd Josafat joined them for the finishing kick and the victory in one hour and 25 minutes.
Ramirez spearheaded the HD Spikers’ sweep with 16 points on an impressive 15-of-24 attacking efficiency, while middle blocker Josafat and outside spiker Wendel Miguel added nine points each.
Ronquillo delivered eight points as well while JP Bugaoan produced seven points built on four blocks.
Noel Kampton chalked up 12 points and eight receptions as the Green Oilers fell to 4-1, tied at third with the Criss Cross King Crunchers.
Both teams will be back next Friday at the same venue. Cignal will face VNS at 6 p.m. while earlier at 4 p.m., La Salle-EcoOil will battle fellow collegiate team Far Eastern University-DN Steel.
