Crossovers overwhelm Chameleons

Chery Tiggo stunned Nxled, 26-24, 25-15, 25-18, to get back into the win column in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference Tuesday night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

The Crossovers zapped the fight out of the shocked Chameleons after overhauling a six-point deficit in the extended first set taking control of the next two frames to complete the sweep for a 2-1 win-loss record.

“We always tell them the importance of building character and maturity because we lost players during the offseason and winning won’t be easy,” Chery Tiggo coach Norman Miguel said of his team’s fightback.

“We saw it in them in the first set when we came back from a huge deficit then they made a run but we saw our team’s willingness to win and get that set. For me that’s character and maturity.”     

Cess Robles finished with 15 points from 14 spikes and one kill block while playing good floor defense with eight digs and three excellent receptions for Chery Tiggo.

Aby Marano added 11 markers while Ara Galang and Rhose Dapol added eight and six points, respectively, for the Crossovers, who kept Nxled winless.

Chery Tiggo rallied from 13-19 down in the opening frame with a telling 11-2 run punctuated by back-to-back crosscourt kills by Robles to move at setpoint, 24-21.

Chiara Permentilla, Lycha Ebon and Kyla Atienza willed Nxled back to tie it at 24. Ebon was called for a net touch in the next play before Aby Marano put the frame away with a quick kill.

Rattled by the reversal, the Chameleons were defenseless against the Crossovers’ onslaught in the next two sets.

Nxled tried to make the game interesting in the third frame, unleashing a 9-3 run to draw close, 23-18, before Rhose Dapol and Robles put the finishing touches to end the game.

The Chameleons suffered a third straight defeat.

Permentilla was the lone Nxled player in double figures with 12 points while May Luna scored eight.