BACARRA — Sisters Jaja Santiago and Dindin Santiago-Manabat jumpstarted Chery Tiggo’s campaign with a rousing 25-20, 25-17, 25-6 victory over PLDT in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference on Saturday at the PCV Socio-Civic and Cultural Center here.
The Santiago sisters’ on-court reunion fueled the Crossovers’ collective effort to beat the young Power Hitters in the league’s professional debut and the sport’s historic return after more than a year amid the pandemic.
Sister act
Dindin showed flashes of her deadly form even after coming off a year-long inactivity, while Jaja brought the momentum from her championship run with Ageo Medics in Japan V-Cup last April.
Jaja Santiago goes for the attack.
Manabat nailed 10 attacks for 12 points, while her younger sister added 11 markers off seven kills and four aces in their team’s PVL debut.
“Definitely, they were able to lead our team in terms of being a leader inside the court and of course, they’re doing their volleyball skills to perform as well. I think it’s a big thing to anchor our team,” said Chery Tiggo head coach Aaron Velez.
Middle blocker Joy Dacoron was a revelation for the Crossovers as she led all scorers with 13 points and provided six of her team’s nine kill blocks.
Arriane Layug was also instrumental with nine markers, while Jasmine Nabor provided the brilliant plays with 16 excellent sets on top seven digs and four points.
“We’re thankful kasi nakabalik na kami sa playing court and then ang importante sa amin healthy yung mga players. Naperform naman nila yung kanilang mga roles,” Velez said. “However, we still have to do a lot of things again, this is still part of our adjustment period from almost two years without volleyball so we need to still push harder.”
Chery Tiggo punished PLDT in the third set scoring 15 straight points for a 23-5 spread off Nabor’s dropball before Dacoron put up the finishing touches.
The Power Hitters had no answer to the tall Crossovers as nobody scored in double figures with Isa Molde and Eli Soyud leading their team with eight and seven points, respectively.
Both teams return to action on Monday with Chery Tiggo facing Cignal and PLDT taking on Sta. Lucia.
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