CIGNAL will advance to the qualifying round as the third seed after sweeping Akari, 25-17, 25-15, 25-21, in the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference on Tuesday at the Philsports Arena.
The HD Spikers closed out the preliminaries on a three-game win streak at 8-3 and will take on either Galeries Tower or Nxled as the eventual 10-seed in next round’s knockout match.
On the flip side, the Chargers’ back-to-back losses sent them down to 5-6 at seventh place.
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They can still go down to as low as ninth depending on how sister teams ZUS Coffee (4-6) Farm Fresh (4-6) fare in their final prelims assignments.
Rose Doria-Aquino went off for 12 points on nine attacks and three blocks.
Faith Nisperos paced a difficult defeat with a near triple-double of 12 points, eight digs and six receptions.
Motivated finish
With a high placement secured for the next phase of the competition, Cignal is more motivated than ever to finish the conference on a high and not be defined by the mid-conference saga that rattled their campaign.
Ces Molina and Riri Meneses' surprise exits are now a thing of the past for an HD Spikers side that are as eager as ever to go all the way in a bid for a maiden league title.
"Mas na-motivate pa ko sa mga bagay na nangyari sa'min, kung ano yung mas dapat kong trabahuhin. Mas pinag-iisipan namin lahat, naming mga coaches and players na ano ba 'yung mas magiging role natin ngayon especially kokonti nalang tayo.
"Sa guidance ni Lord, tinutulungan talaga kami kung saan namin gusto mapunta. But siyempre, hindi mags-stop kasi ang dami pa rin naming kailangan iimprove and I know or we know na magiging better pa kami."
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