PVL: Near-flawless HD Spikers dismantle Angels

Cignal HD Spikers in the PVL Reinforced Conference game against Petro Gazz Angels. –PVL PHOTO

No one has been able to stop Cignal in the PVL Reinforced Conference, with the HD Spikers jacking up their Pool B record to 4-0 after a thorough dismantling of fancied Petro Gazz.

And for coach Shaq delos Santos, the key has been how his players are responding to prepare for the games.

“Our run has been good so far, which of course isn’t easy to do. Every day we process what we want to improve on and then talk with the players about what we want to achieve,” coach delos Santos told the Inquirer in Filipino on Thursday.

Cignal had a near-perfect 25-19, 25-19, 25-22 performance against Petro Gazz on Thursday in a game where it committed a record six errors, the fewest in a game all-time.

And the way the HD Spikers have been knocking down opponents here is no big deal in Delos Santos’ mind, even this sweep of the 2022 Reinforced Conference champion Angels.

A different story

“The team responded well [starting] in practice where they are patiently working on what to correct, maintain and improve and then how to apply it in-game without hesitation, because we prepared well with a game plan so that’s why we are having good results,” Delos Santos said.

“But did I expect the team to be doing this well? No. But with hard work really, that is the result we want.” he added. “It’s better to focus [on the goal] and work on the process.”

Cignal has a bridesmaid finish in between four bronze medals in its long PVL participation—and in this conference, the HD spikers want to write a different story even without Alas Pilipinas cogs Vanie Gandler and Dawn Macandili-Catindig and Jov Gonzaga.

“The [team] bosses are definitely really happy with our campaign. They always ask us ‘What kind of story do we want to happen?,’” Delos Santos said. “I think that with everything happening in this conference, it’s overwhelming, and we need to control ourselves because the fight is not yet over.

“This is only the beginning and we should maintain or even elevate our performance. There is no option of going down anymore,” he added.