PLDT forged a three-way tie for the No. 1 seed in the 2025 PVL Reinforced Conference, doing so at Chery Tiggo EV’s expense with a 26-28, 25-12, 25-16, 25-13 win on Saturday at the Ynares Center II in Montalban, Rizal.
Savi Davison became the first local player to hit the 30-point mark this conference with a career-high triple-double of 36 points, 14 receptions and 10 digs.
She had Russian winger Anastasiia Bavykina alongside her on the frontline, with the import delivering 16 points and 10 receptions.
"I’m just happy that we won. I honestly wasn’t keeping track of how many points I was scoring," Davison said.
"We were able to create gaps to win the last three sets comfortably with some points between us. I’m just happy with the win, regardless."
Kianna Dy and Dell Palomata held the fort for the locals with nine and seven points, respectively, highlighted by four blocks from the Alas Pilipinas middle blocker.
Kim Fajardo once again worked her magic at the playmaking spot, dishing out 22 excellent sets on top of five points.
It was a near-flawless outing save for a squandered opening frame, where the High Speed Hitters raced to a 14-9 lead and even held three late set points. That early advantage slipped away after a pipe attack from the Cuban-Kazakh spiker Yuni Batista and a Davison hit that went long, gifting the Crossovers the extended first set.
From there, the reigning PVL Invitational MVP took over, helping PLDT build double-digit cushions and cruise the rest of the way to a four-set victory.
The High Speed Hitters have now muscled their way into a tight race atop the league table with sister teams ZUS Coffee and Farm Fresh, as all three squads carry identical 6-1 records.
Already through to the playoffs, PLDT needs to sweep a struggling Petro Gazz side and be boosted by last-day stumbles from the Thunderbelles and the Foxies to clinch the top seed.
Chery Tiggo still has gas left in the tank
Batista’s 27 points and 13 digs were hardly backed by the locals, with Ara Galang finishing as the next best scorer with just nine markers. The third-best output came from Pauline Gaston, who managed only four points.
While Chery Tiggo EV drops to 2-5 — tying Choco Mucho — a win in its final prelims assignment could still keep the Crossovers in the hunt, but only if Petro Gazz falls to Capital1 later tonight.
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