CIGNAL caught the last bus to the playoffs at the expense of injury-plagued Choco Mucho, 17-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-14, in the 2022 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Reinforced Conference on Tuesday at the PhilSports Arena.
American reinforcement Tai Bierria unloaded 18 points built on 14 attacks and four blocks as Cignal completed the Final Four cast alongside Chery Tiggo, league-leading Creamline and defending champion Petro Gazz.
The Flying Titans welcomed back import Odina Aliyeva after her recoveru ffrom COVID-19, but their injury woes deepened when Kat Tolentino and Des Cheng were escorted off the court in the third set one after the other.
Choco Mucho wrapped the Reinforced Conference with a 3-5 (win-loss) card and finished tied with Akari and PLDT.
Choco Mucho relied mostly on Cheng's 15 point output - the lone Titan who breached the double figure scoring - to stay in the fight, but she, too, had to sit out with a finger injury with the Titans trailing 15-21 in the crucial third set which Cignal won to lock up a semifinal berth.
Tolentino, who went down in the third frame, returned to action in the non-bearing fourth set and finished with nine points.
Cignal pounced on a short-handed Choco Mucho in the fourth canto and led the Titans by as many as 12 points, before Klarissa Abriam finished the match off the bench with an off the block hit.
Ces Molina added 13 points and nine digs, while Roselyn Doria chipped in nine points for Cignal.
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