Cignal crushes Akari behind new recruit

Cignal flexed its firepower with a new weapon in Erika Santos to repulse Akari convincingly, 25-23, 25-14, 25-23, for a resounding start in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) on Tour Sunday at the newly inaugurated, state-of-the-art Chavit Coliseum in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

Santos, who signed with the HD Spikers after parting ways with PLDT during the offseason, proved to be a valuable acquisition at the opposite position after blasting away all of her 14 points off attacks in the team’s relentless pounding of the sluggish Chargers in their Pool B opener.

“We prepared well for this. We built our connection and jelling, and we got a great outcome,” Santos said.

Tin Tiamzon also made her presence felt in her return from a brief retirement, scoring 11 points capped by a lucky broken play point off an overreception as the HD Spikers ended the one-hour, 41-minute volleyball clinic in front of a packed Ilokano crowd.

Ishie Lalongisip and Rose Doria-Aquino chipped in nine and eight points, respectively, for Cignal.

“Very happy and thankful to the Lord because we really prepared hard for this tournament. We know we still have a lot to work on,” Cignal coach Shaq Delos Santos said.

“But the good thing is the response of the team, especially Erika. Despite being new to the team, we’re very happy with the way she played. We know she could offer more.”

The HD Spikers’ outgunned Akari, 50-36, in attack points behind the superb playmaking of Gel Cayuna. The PVL Press Corps Best Setter of the Season tallied 21 excellent sets.

Cayuna sparked the HD Spikers’ decisive 5-0 blast to come back from an 18-19 deficit and take a 23-19 advantage in the third frame.

The Chargers countered with back-to-back points before Tiamzon hammered a down the line kill to push Cignal at match point.

Grethcel Soltones and Ivy Lacsina tried to will Akari back with consecutive kills only for Eli Soyud to miss-time her block attempt off the faulty reception of Tiamzon.

Soyud had 12 points to pace the Chargers Soltones and Lacsina got 11 and nine, respectively.

Action resumes today with Cignal taking on Capital1 at 4 p.m., followed by the Creamline-Akari clash at 6:30 p.m. in the same venue.