HD Spikers, Crossovers battle for share of early lead

Cignal HD Spikers during a game against the Farm Fresh Foxies in the PVL All-Filipino Conference.–PVL PHOTO

Cignal puts Chery Tiggo to the test on Thursday when they clash for a share of the early lead in the PVL All-Filipino Conference at FilOil EcoOil Arena in San Juan City where the HD Spikers will try to expose all the kinks on the Crossovers’ armor caused by a massive player exodus.

Coming off contrasting wins in their debuts, the HD Spikers look to have a more loaded roster on paper led by Vanie Gandler, Ces Molina and supreme setter Gel Cayuna, which bamboozled its way past Farm Fresh.

The Crossovers, on the other hand, needed five sets to bring down Capital1, bailed out by Ara Galang’s 23 points.

They clash at 4 p.m. with the winner joining Akari and PLDT at the top, even as the Solar Spikers try to bounce back from that meltdown against the Crossovers when they tangle with Choco Mucho in the 6:30 p.m. contest.

Huge void in core

Chery usually starts every conference as one of the teams to beat, especially the last one where they got Galang and Aby Marano from disbanded F2 Logistics.

But the Laure sisters Eya and EJ and libero Buding Duremdes have left and a vacuum in the Chery core has been created as coach Norman Miguel looks for players to step up and make the Crossovers threats once again.

Duremdes, incidentally, has signed with Cignal and could make an appearance against her former team as HD Spikers coach Shaq Delos Santos tries to address his short rotation.

“Our goal in this long tournament is to be able to last the entire six months,” Delos Santos said in Filipino. “This is not going to be an easy conference for any team.”

Meanwhile, Choco Mucho’s Kat Tolentino is expected to lead the charge against the Solar Spikers after a stellar 27-point performance against Galleries Towers.

Also with Chery Rondina and promising rookie Lorraine Pecaña, the Flying Titans hope to address their lapses and secure a more dominant win this time.