LIPA CITY —Chery Tiggo made short work of the winless Baguio, 25-13, 25-17, 25-14, to keep itself in title contention in the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) Champions League on Wednesday at the Aquamarine Sports Complex.
Chery Tiggo vs Baguio recap
The Crossovers leaned on their bench players but still dominated the winless Highlanders en route to their third win in four games and assure themselves of at least a silver medal.
Chery Tiggo forged a winner-take-all match before taking on the unbeaten F2 Logistics (4-0) on Thursday at 4 pm.
The Premier Volleyball League champions has to beat F2 Logistics in three or four sets to steal the PNVF crown but if they won in five, the latter will still be hailed as champion as it collected more points in the tournament.
F2 Logistics collected 12 points after sweeping all of its four matches, while Chery Tiggo currently has 10. A three or four-set win is equivalent to three points, while in a five-setter, the winner gets two and the loser receives a point.
“It’s going to be an exciting match. We always like to compete with seasoned teams and we have high respect and high regard to F2,” Chery Tiggo head coach Aaron Velez said.
“We’re just going to take it one point at a time. The first set will set the tempo of the match so we’re just going to give our best.”
Dindin Santiago-Manabat, Jasmine Nabor, Justine Dorog and Buding Duremdes didn’t play while Mylene Paat only played in the first set and scored six but Chery Tiggo’s bench, led by May Luna, beat Baguio in just 68 minutes.
Luna, who signed with the team ahead of the tournament, played her best game as a Crossover so far with 11 points, nailing nine of her 18 spike attempts.
Arriane Layug scored nine for Chery Tiggo. Maika Ortiz had eight points including three blocks playing only in the first and third set, while Joy Dacoron added seven.
Chery’s bench outplayed Baguio with 38-13 difference in attacking with nobody from the latter scoring in double figures as Mary Ann Atuban led the team with six points.
Baguio lost all of its five matches, placing sixth in the inaugural Champions League.