Spikers’ Turf: Cignal stops Air Force to force Game 3

Photo from Spikers’ Turf Facebook account

Enduring the agony of defeat twice, Cignal coach Michael Carino took great pains in trying to figure out the weakness of Philippine Air Force.

He found the answer late Wednesday afternoon in an emphatic 25-16, 25-17, 25-18 triumph his HD Spikers pulled off against the Airmen to stretch their Spikers’ Turf Season 1-Reinforced Conference finals to a rubber match.

“After we lost, I spent much of my time studying the way they (Airmen) play,’’ said Carino after Cignal’s breakthrough win against a team it hadn’t beaten before.

The HD Spikers lost to the Airmen in the elimination round and dropped their match again in Game 1 of their best-of-three series last weekend.

“We put up new combinations and different variations against them and found success,’’ said Carino.

Edmar Bonono typified Cignal’s new-found strategy by unloading 15 kills from his 19 points while Glacy Ralph Diezmo had 34 sets that translated into power hits that frustrated the Airmen.

Rodolfo Labrador and Jeffry Malabanan put up a semblance of a fight in the final set as Air Force trimmed a seven-point deficit to four.

But the HD Spikers, with Lorenzo Capate, Herschel Ramos, Edward Ybanez and Bonono protecting their turf, foiled the Air Force attack at the net with Ramos delivering six of his team’s 12 blocks.

Malabanan tallied 10 points and Labrador added eight hits for the Airmen, who only had 25 spikes compared to Cignal’s 40 kills.

Game 3 is set Dec. 6 also at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

“We need to improve our floor defense. The long rest will give us more time to study their tendencies,’’ said Carino.

Conference MVP Mark Gil Alfafara fired 19 hits and Rolando Casillan had 35 excellent sets for PLDT Home Ultera, which earlier clinched third place with a 31-29, 20-25, 25-21, 25-15 win over Philippine Navy.