Cignal bucks slow start, trounces Amy's

Games Saturday:

(FilOil Flying V Center)

 2:30 p.m. – Amy’s vs Generika

4:30 p.m. – Cignal vs Standard Insurance-Navy

6:30 p.m. – Petron vs Foton

 LIPA CITY – Cignal brushed off a sluggish start with a furious finish to coast to a 14-25, 25-27, 25-13, 25-14 win over Amy’s in the second round of the 2016 Philippine Superliga (PSL) All-Filipino Conference women’s volleyball tournament Thursday at the La Salle Lipa Sentrum here.

It was a total team effort, but Cherry Vivas was the most impressive as she punched holes in the Spikers’ defensive blanket in the third and fourth sets en route to the victory in this prestigious club tourney sponsored by KLab Cyscorpions, Mueller, Mikasa and Asics with TV5 as official broadcaster.

Vivas delivered all her 10n points on kills while Janine Navarro, Carmela Tunay and Jeanette Panaga chipped in nine points each for the HD Spikers, who bounced back after a sorry loss to Generika in their first game of the second round.

The HD Spikers need to win its last game against Standard Insurance-Navy on Saturday to determine the placing in the classification phase.

“Our best finish will be fifth (place),” said Cignal coach Sammy Acaylar, who drew a 23-set effort from Djanel Cheng. “But it’s okay; we’re still motivated to claim that fifth spot. I just tell her to do their best because something good will happen if we give our hundred percent every game.”

But against Amy’s, a team that is being handled by Acaylar in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Cignal lost its strength early on.

The Spikers displayed their might in the early stretch as Cindy Imbo bucked to work early, delivering back-to-back aces to give Amy’s an early 8-5 lead in the first technical timeout.

That lead swelled to nine, 21-12, with Cignal failing to come up with an answer to the hot smashes of Imbo and Jowie Verzosa.

“I told the team to respect our opponent,” Acayar said, referring to Amy’s, which has yet to win since joining the league as New San Jose Builders in the PSL Invitational Conference.

“Fortunately, they got their acts together in the second and third sets. Then, their confidence grew in the fourth set and started to enjoy the game.”

Imbo tallied nine hits and three aces to finish with 12 points while Verzosa had nine markers for Amy’s, which is composed of the members of NCAA powerhouse University of Perpetual Help.