Kobe Shinwa raps Cignal, boosts title bid

Games today:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

4 p.m. — Kobe Shinwa vs Chery Tiggo

6:30 p.m. — ZUS Coffee vs Creamline

Kobe Shinwa University fanned its championship berth hopes with a 25-7, 25-18, 19-25, 27-25, victory over Cignal in the 2025 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Invitational on Thursday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Nagisa Komatsuda carried the scoring load for the young but gritty Japanese squad, which came back from three set points in the fourth frame to finish off the HD Spikers and improve to a 3-1 win-loss record tied with Chery Tiggo.

Komatsuda scattered 21 points from 19 attacks, one kill block and an ace while adding 11 excellent receptions for Kobe Shinwa, which had a blistering start but had to recover from a third set collapse for a shot at a spot in the winner-take-all championship game against PLDT.

Kobe Shinwa’s victory primed it up for a virtual battle for a final berth against the Crossovers today at the same venue. The visiting team must win via sweep or four sets to advance in the championship.

“Before we came into the game, we focused on our target of advancing into the final,” Kobe Shinwa head coach Kiyukazu Yamamoto said.

“When we get back into our hotel, we will review Chery Tiggo’s games. We’ll be preparing hard especially against their No. 1 player (Cess Robles).”

Kobe Shinwa went behind, 24-22, after a Rose Doria-Aquino hit. Komatsuda saved a set point before On Tour Most Valuable Player Erika Santos committed a costly attack miscue that forced a deuce.

A successful net fault challenge put Cignal back on top before Kobe Shinwa scored the next three points punctuated by Yasuma’s consecutive hammers that penetrated the block.

Arisu Ishikawa got 15 points, Kokoro Yasuma has 12 points, including the back-to-back kills that sealed the one-hour, 49-minute battle, while Reira Miyazaki added 11 points for the Japanese school team.

Kobe Shinwa humiliated Cignal in the opening set with a scoring and defensive clinic as the Japanese limited the veteran-laden HD Spikers to the league’s third-lowest output in a single set.

Cignal, however, salvaged some measure of pride in the third frame with a telling 12-4 closing run to end the frame. Down, 13-15, the HD Spikers unleashed 10 unanswered points to take an eight-point lead.

The Japanese countered with three straight points but a Miyazaki service error gave Cignal a set point advantage. Heather Guino-o misfired on her attack before getting it back with an off the block kill to extend the match.

Cignal slipped to a 1-4 card and missed its chance to step into the consolation battle for third.

Aquino finished with 16 points, Santos had 12, while Vanie Gandler was limited to just nine points but recorded 13 excellent receptions and 10 digs for the HD Spikers, which gave away 21 points off errors.