CIGNAL marched onto the PVL Finals with a repeat win over Creamline, 25-13, 13-25, 25-16, 25-16, in the 2026 PVL All-Filipino Conference semifinals on Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
This marks the Super Spikers’ first finals appearance since the 2024 Invitationals and first without an import, where they dropped the knockout championship game also to the Cool Smashers.
Creamline's unsuccessful floor touch challenge handed Cignal the finals berth in an anti-climactic finish, with Vanie Gandler's triple-double of 24 points, 10 digs and 10 receptions showing the way.
Both Erika Santos and Tin Tiamzon racked up 14 points each, with 14 digs for Santos and 10 receptions for Tiamzon, and Rose Doria-Aquino pitching in 10 markers.
The backbone of it all was Gel Cayuna, who tallied 29 excellent sets and five points.
"We really just did our best to stay composed even when they got one set from us," Gandler said.
"We just kept telling each other one point at a time, one point at a time because based on experience, we know how Cream line can really come back at any time even if the score is super far. They've done it many times, so we really did our best to bounce back from our mistakes and just really move forward. "
Back-to-back wins over Creamline this conference, one that didn’t go to five sets this time, sealed Cignal’s rise to the top of the single round-robin semis as the last unbeaten team at 2-0.
As such, not even a loss to PLDT on Thursday won’t carry any more weight to Cignal’s imminent finals entry.
Cignal's time has come
Cignal blitzed Creamline in a methodical opening set, racing to a 13-point rout to seize the early edge.
The Cool Smashers fired right back with a mirror-image beatdown in Set 2 to level the match.
But from a 4-all start in the third, the Super Spikers turned it into one-way traffic once more, with a Tiamzon attack putting them on the cusp of the finals.
Bernadeth Pons paced the loss with 17 points and nine digs, backed by Jema Galanza's 10 points and 17 receptions as Creamline faces a do-or-die match against Farm Fresh on Thursday for the last finals berth.
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