Chery Tiggo locked the semifinal second seed after booting out listless Philippine Army, 25-16, 25-14, 26-28, 25-15, at the close of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation Champions League elimination round Thursday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
EJ Laure and Shaya Adorador stepped up big time to lead the rampaging Crossovers to a 3-1 win-loss record at second spot behind unbeaten Cignal (4-0).
Laure finished with a game-high 21 points built on 17 kills and four kill blocks while Adorador had 20 markers highlighted by five aces, 14 spikes and a kill block for Chery Tiggo, which won three straight after an opening day setback.
Princess Robles chipped in 14 points while Seth Rodriguez and Pauline Gaston added nine and seven points, respectively, to make it more than enough for the much-needed rest of their top spikers.
Eya Laure, Mylene Paat and Ara Galang, albeit in uniforms, did not play a single set while middle blocker Aby Maraño played only two frames in Chery Tiggo’s easy win.
“Well, we secured the No. 2 spot but still what would really matter is the semifinal game as there is no twice-to-beat advantage,” Crossovers coach Kungfu Reyes said.
On deck for Chery Tiggo is the third-ranked squad, which will be either College of St. Benilde (1-2) or Petro Gazz (1-2) pending the result of their crucial duel to wrap up the prelims as of press time.
The loser, for its part, will have a mountain to climb against undefeated Cignal in the knockout semis.
Save for a slim loss in the extended third set courtesy of Jovelyn Gonzaga’s late heroics for the Lady Troopers, the Crossovers dominated the duel that lasted one hour and 45 minutes with big gaps in each of the three sets they won punctuated by massive 10-point runaway in the clincher.
Honey Royse Tubino and Gonzaga showed the way for the Lady Troopers with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
