MUNTINLUPA City — Cignal defeated Cocolife, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22, to sweep Pool B and earn an outright semis berth in the Philippine Super Liga Invitational Conference on Saturday at Muntinlupa Sports Center here.
Mylene Paat and Rachel Anne Daquis, finished with 16 and 15 points, respectiely, to lead the way for the HD Spikers, who ended the preliminary round with a perfect 4-0 win-loss record.
It was a crucial win for the HD Spikers as they secured the solo No. 1 spot, leaving no room for Smart (3-1) to steal the spot.
“Actually before we started the game parang relax lang kami, parang gusto lang namin maglaro,” said Cignal coach Edgar Barroga. “Pero when I found out na kapag natalo kami magdedeikado pa kami.”
“So I told them na hindi pa tayo sigurado. Siguro nag-sink in kay Rachel ‘yung sinabi ko, naging beast mode si Rachel, dinala niya ‘yung team kanina, ayaw niya sayangin ang mga pinaghirapan namin.”
The HD Spikers will have to wait for a week as four other teams will play in a knockout cross over quarterfinals on Tuesday and the losers will play in a classification match on Thursday.
“Pinaplano namin na kapag nasigurado namin ‘to, gusto ko i-box ‘yung players. Hangga’t maaari gusto ko silang makuha muna kasi before the semis,” said Barroga.
“Kasi alam mo kapag kanya-kanya na naman kami ‘yung condition ng katawan nila at the same time ‘yung pinaghirapan namin baka mawala eh ito ‘yung importante,” he added.
Meanwhile, it was a special game for Barroga, whose daughter Gyra played for Cocolife.
Alex Tan made eight points for the Asset Managers, while Justine Tiu chipped in seven and Gyra had four.
Cocolife slid to 1-3 and will face University of the Philippines-UAI in the classification match.
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