Finalist Cignal finds itself at a pivotal juncture — whether to engage its rival in a showdown or conserve energy for the challenging title series — as it faces the Criss Cross King Crunchers in the 2024 Spikers’ Turf Open Conference today at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Game time is at 12 noon with the unbeaten HD Spikers looking to come up with a strong finishing kick in the semifinal phase to gain enough momentum in the best-of-three championship series.

Meanwhile, D’Navigators seek a vital win against the PGJC-Navy Sealions in the first game at 10 a.m.

Cignal rallied from 1-2 set down to halt Criss Cross in their initial face-off. Despite the game holding little bearing on the HD Spikers’ standings, former Cignal ace and now Criss Cross top gun Marck Espejo expects nothing less than their best performance.

“For Cignal, it’s a no-bearing match but for sure they will do everything to beat us,” said Espejo, who turned in his best output in the conference with 17 points and nine excellent receptions against the Sealions.

“But we’re just going to enjoy the game like what we did against Navy. Although we had a lot of errors, our sense of urgency was there.”

With two shutout wins in the semis, the HD Spikers have secured a Top 2 spot, ensuring a superior set ratio even in the event of a triple tie among Cignal, Criss Cross and the D’Navigators.

Meanwhile, the D’Navigators are poised to overcome the also-ran PGJC-Navy side although the Sealions are equally determined to exit on a winning note and potentially thwart the former’s finals aspirations.

The King Crunchers and the D’Navigators tote identical 1-1 records with three points each. But in the next tiebreaker — the set ratio, the former holds the edge, 1.33-0.75.