PLDT, Cignal and Air Force scored big wins on Tuesday to march on to the semifinals of the Spikers’ Turf Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan City.
PLDT Home Ultera defeated Instituto Estetico Manila, 25-23, 26-28, 25-18, 25-20, decision to clinch the second semifinal berth with a 5-2 mark.
Air Force whipped Fourbees-Cavite, 25-16, 25-18, 25-20, while Cignal downed Champion Infinity, 25-22, 25-16, 25-21 to also reach the last four.
The Airmen and HD Spikers actually wound up tied for third with Army and Champion Infinity with 4-3 win-loss cards at the close of the single round eliminations but advanced due to superior tiebreak points.
Cignal had 1.130 points, Air Force had 1.074, Army was at 1.102 and Champion had 1.018.
Cagayan Valley was first to the semis with a 6-1 slate.
Cagayan, PLDT, Army and Air Force will play in another single round robin semis with the top two disputing the crown in the opening conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s and presented by PLDT Home Ultera.
Mark Gil Alfafara scored 13 points, while Kheeno Franco added 13 for the Ultra Fast Hitters.
John Paul Torres stepped up in the third set by firing eight hits before Armando Malleon scattered six crucial hits in the fourth to anchor the Ultra Fast Hitters’ victory.
"Our bench players were really huge in this game, they helped the team a lot," said PLDT coach Odjie Mamon.
Earlier, Air Force dominated Cavite with Edwin Tolentino and Ruben Inaudito leading the attack with 17 and 14 hits, respectively.
Jeffrey Malabanan added nine points while Clarence Esteban and skipper Dante Alisunurin chipped in four markers apiece.
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