Cignal downs Farm Fresh, boosts semis chase

Cignal eliminated listless expansion team Farm Fresh in the semifinals race with an emphatic, 25-18, 25-19, 25-18, win in the Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference Thursday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

The HD Spikers claimed their second straight victory to join Petro Gazz and F2 Logistics in a three-way tie on top of Pool B with identical 3-1 win-loss records.

Grizzled veteran Ces Molina scored all of her 16 points on attacks in an efficient 16-of-30 spiking clip while Jovelyn Gonzaga had 12 markers built on 10 hits and two kill blocks for Cignal, which needed only 73 minutes to silence the Foxies.

"Hopefully, we'll improve our performance. We committed a lot of errors but good thing we won the game," HD Spikers coach Shaq delos Santos said.

Middle blocker Riri Meneses added eight points. Ateneo de Manila Univerisity Vanie Gandler also put in eight markers mostly in the third set and had four digs for the HD Spikers.

"It feels great. I'm really happy to be here, I'm really happy I chose Cignal, and the fight's not over so the work continues," Gandler said.

"Of course, (our goal is) to get every win because every game, especially in this conference, is very crucial so I really just wanted to do my role so I could help the team."

Cignal will close its pool assignment against Choco Mucho in a crucial match on Tuesday.

The Foxies, on the other hand, suffered their fourth defeat in as many games to kiss their semis hopes goodbye.

Kate Santiago was the only Farm Fresh player in double figures with 12 points while Wielyn Estoque scored seven markers. Zamantha Nolasco and Aprylle Tagsip got five each.