Dindin Manabat celebrates a Chery Tiggo point.—CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
ILOCOS Norte—Chery Tiggo destroyed powerhouse Creamline’s seeming myth of invincibility late Friday night with a 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20 victory, putting the Crossovers back in the Final Four mix at PCV Socio-Civic Cultural Center in Bacarra.
The Crossovers stirred up play right on the first serve and surprised the fancied Cool Smashers with a blend of power and spunk to rise to 4-2, good for fourth spot at the moment, while dealing the Cool Smashers a first loss in six games and stalling their outright semis qualification.
The victory is also expected to remove all the negative thoughts that hounded the Crossovers after going loss-win-loss to BaliPure, Perlas and Sta. Lucia, respectively, following straight-set victories over PLDT and Cignal HD in the opening week of the country’s first pro volley league.
Meanwhile, after another Saturday break, the race to the semis heats up beginning on Sunday as Chery Tiggo faces another tough rival in Petro Gazz at 1 p.m., and Sta. Lucia and BaliPure clashing at 4 p.m., with both squads badly needing a win to keep them in the semis hunt.