CHERY Tiggo’s drive-to-survive started on a winning note over Nxled, 25-22, 26-24, 25-12, in Pool B of the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference play-in tournament on Thursday at the Philsports Arena.
After two close opening sets, the Crossovers refused to let any comeback bid slide in Set 3 with an 11-2 match-clinching spree.
Veteran winger Shaya Adorador went full throttle for the Crossovers with 14 points on 13 attacks and one ace.
Teaming up to lead Chery Tiggo's offense are its two leading scorers this conference in Ara Galang and Cess Robles with twin 15-point efforts, along with nine receptions and seven digs for the latter in a near triple-double performance.
READ: PVL Play-In: Who will advance and who will head to the lottery?
Even after going through a four-game skid, Adorador heaped praised on the team's togetherness through adversity which has so far paid off as they inch ever-so closer to the playoffs.
"Nakikita ko sa team namin na kahit na down kami hindi kami nagwawatak watak lalo na yung mga players siyempre kami yung magkasama sa loob ng court siyempre mas nakikita namin yung every day na struggle pero alam namin na malalampasan namin siya with each other na magkakasama kami," said Adorador.
It will now just take one last win for Chery Tiggo against Farm Fresh on Tuesday to complete its redemption lap en route to the playoffs as the 8-seed.
The not-so grand prize, should the Crossovers top their pool in five days’ time, is a date with defending champion Creamline in the best-of-three quarters.
Meanwhile, EJ Laure's first game against her former team ended in defeat but still had a team-high 15 points.
The Chameleons’ last hope for a playoff spot is if they can finish pool play with a superior match points total or set ratio if and only if there will be a three-way tie at 1-1.
In essence, it will take a Nxled win over Farm Fresh and a Farm Fresh win over Chery Tiggo for the triple tie to happen. From there, the tiebreaker metrics will come to play to determine which team will be playoff-bound.
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