Usher, Cignal eager to tangle with tough Petron

WHILE teams generally try to avoid Petron in the playoffs, Cignal welcomes its semifinal face-off with the defending champion and hopes to play the part of the conquering “underdog.”

Cignal import Ariel Usher said they are more comfortable playing with nothing to lose, especially against the Blaze Spikers who have been lording it over the league the last two conferences.

“It’s so much fun to play as underdogs,” said the 24-year-old outside hitter from University of Portland who added that the pressure they shouldered after a 5-0 start in the eliminations has started to wane.

Nevertheless, Usher is expecting “nothing but the championship. That’s what we signed up for.”

Cignal coach Sammy Acaylar is equally optimistic.

“Against Petron, we’ll try to study our previous games and draw strategy against them. We’ll try to find weaknesses even though all of them are superstars and and very tough players,” said Acaylar. “The ball is round.”

Cignal actually managed to win over the Blaze Spikers. With Usher exploding for 37 points, Cignal downed Petron (18-25, 17-25, 25-16, 25-18, 16-14) in the first round.

But Petron struck back also in five sets (25-16, 14-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-13) in the second round.