Angels stay in Finals hunt, send Crossovers packing

Games Tuesday:

(Philsports Arena)

2:30 p.m. – Petro Gazz vs Cignal

5:30 p.m. – Chery Tiggo vs Creamline

Petro Gazz kept its Finals hopes alive after booting out Chery Tiggo, 25-15, 25-17, 25-13, in the round robin semifinals of the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday night.

The Angels buckled down to business right from the opening serve for a quick work of the Crossovers for a bounce back win to tie Creamline with identical 1-1 win-loss slates.

American import Lindsey Vander Weide had a crisp spiking night, connecting 14 of her 30 attack attempts to finish with game-high 18 points to lead Petro Gazz, which rebounded from a stinging straight sets loss to the Cool Smashers in the Final Four opener last Thursday. She also added five digs for an all-around performance.

Myla Pablo fired 15 markers built on 11 kills and four kill blocks while Aiza Maizo-Pontillas scattered 11 markers for the Angels.

Petro Gazz will face unbeaten Cignal (2-0) on Tuesday. However, the Angels are hard-pressed to beat the HD Spikers in convincing fashion for a better tiebreak in case of a three-way tie at 2-1.

Creamline and Chery Tiggo will battle in the other crucial semis encounter.

The Angels dominated the Crossovers, who only played Montenegrin import Jelena Cvijovic in the opening set, all throughout the match building huge gaps to control each freame.

Vander Weide opened a 22-9 separation in the third set before ending the game in 80 minutes.

Chery Tiggo, which started the season-ending conference with five straight wins, dropped its second straight match.

Mylene Paat was the only Crossover in double figures with 10 points. Dindin Santiago-Manabat and Czarina Carandang had eight and seven markers while Cvijovic only had one marker in a short stint.

Cherry Tiggo is relegated in the best-of-three battle for bronze.