Chery Tiggo Crossovers. –PVL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Chery Tiggo secured a spot in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference semifinals after a thrilling five-set win over F2 Logistics, 27-25, 11-25, 17-25, 25-22, 15-10, at Philsports Arena on Saturday.
The Crossovers unleashed their “never-say-die” attitude to rise from a 2-1 deficit and extend their winning streak to six for an 8-1 record, sufficient enough for a seat in the semis.
“The character that we’re trying to build, it’s here now; that ‘never say die’ attitude. We were like oysters, already dead but still held on,” said coach Emilio “Kung Fu” Reyes in Filipino.
“We got the first set because we worked for it. In the second and third set, we didn’t lose focus, we just moved so irritated. We didn’t know where to scratch, is it on the left, right, I even scratched my head. That wasn’t us,” he added in jest.
The Crossovers were basically left for dead after the third set. After turning in an abysmal second frame where they scored only 11 points, the also-ran Cargo Movers continued to dominate them in the following period.
Chery Tiggo almost lost hold of its semis ticket but Eya Laure, who finished with 19 points, refused to lay in the coffin.
With the score tied at 20-all in the penultimate period, Laure went on a personal 5-2 run to force a fifth and final set capped off with a service ace for the set point.
The deciding set was highly similar to the fourth set where both teams didn’t budge a bit until it reached crunch time.
Except this time, when Chery Tiggo led by just one, 10-9, Reyes’ wards made sure to be the ones rising to the occasion, limiting the Cargo Movers to just a point since then.
Mylene Paat led the Crossovers in the scoring department with 21 points. Jennifer Nierva, meanwhile, turned in 27 excellent digs to help Chery Tiggo’s cause.
F2 Logistics, on the other hand, dropped to 4-6 in the ladder but not without the efforts of Ara Galang and Ivy Lacsina, who scored 22 and 19 points, respectively. Majoy Baron had herself a 13-piece but to no avail.