Games Wednesday (November 25)
(The Arena, San Juan)
1 p.m. – Navy vs PLDT Home Ultera (Battle for third)
3 p.m. – Cignal vs Air Force (Championship)
MANILA, Philippines – Air Force tries to pick up from its emphatic Game One victory as it goes for the jugular against Cignal HD TV on Wednesday in the Spikers' Turf Season 1-Reinforced Conference presented by PLDT Home Ultera at The Arena in San Juan City.
The Raiders took the series opener, 25-15, 19-25, 25-19, 25-19, last Saturday and they will be hoping to ride on that crest when they face off with the HD Spikers, who are expected to bounce back strong in their 3 p.m. Game Two showdown.
A deciding Game Three, if necessary, is on Dec. 5.
"We're going for the win but we expect them (Cignal) to make some adjustments," said Air Force coach Rhovyl Verayo.
Air Force leaned on a tight eight-man rotation headed by the power-hitting Jeffry Malabanan, who unloaded a team-high 17 hits in gaining a 1-0 edge in their best-of-three title series.
Rodolfo Labrador, Reyson Fuentes, Ruben Inaudito and Edwin Tolentino was part of that compact rotation Verayo employed last time as the four combined for 41 points in providing Malabanan the ample help.
The Raiders also relied on their superior blocking with Fuentes and Labrador accounting for eight of their 11 blocks against just four by Cignal.
It didn't help that the Michael Carino-mentored HD Spikers had 36 errors compared to the only 24 by the Raiders.
"Those were basically what helped us in the first game, our blocking and less errors," said Verayo.
Cignal is expected to go to the duo of Edmar Bonono and Lorenzo Capate, Jr., who combined for 30 in Game One, but it would need more support from the whole team for it to prevent Air Force from wrapping this one up.
In the battle for third, PLDT Home Ultera likewise goes for the clincher against Navy at 1 p.m.
The Ultrafast Hitters trounced the Sailors, 25-14, 25-22, 23-25, 25-19, in the opener to gain the early upperhand.
Mark Gil Alfafara led the way with 20 hits including 17 on kills while Kheeno Franco, Henry James Peca-A and Jayson Ramos contributed 17, 12 and 10, respectively, in the win.
Razzel Palisoc and Nur Amin Madsairi, who paced the Sailors with 16 and 12 points the last time, will be the players to watch for Navy.