GAMES SATURDAY
(Dasmarinas Arena, Cavite)
4 p.m. – Farm Fresh vs. Capital1
6:30 p.m. – Chery Tiggo vs. Galeries Tower
ZUS Coffee did just enough to fend off Chery Tiggo 19-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-19, 15-6 last night to barge into the knockout stage on a high in the PVL On Tour at the Candon City Arena in Ilocos Sur.
Boosted by the heroics of skipper Cloanne Mondonedo, who dished out 36 excellent sets and two points, the Thunderbelles wound up fourth with a 3-2 record in Pool B and will face Pool A’s fifth-ranked squad.
Rookie AC Miner shone on both ends for Zus Coffee with 19 points built on 15 attacks and four kill blocks, while Kate Santiago scored 13 markers.
Chinnie Arroyo and Chai Troncoso also combined for 21 points the Thunderbelles of coach Jerry Yee.
“We are happy na ganoon nga, resilient pero also it shows inconsistencies so at least alam namin anong kailangan naming i-work on,” Yee said. “Marami pa (pagtutuunan ng pansin), isa-isahin natin. Transition namin, conditioning namin so itra-try pa rin natin i-point iyan.
“Pero at least, we got the win and iyon na nga, lumalaban iyong team kahit second unit so masayang-masaya kami,” he added.
Zus Coffee’s victory forged a triple tie in its grpup with the Crossovers and the Creamline Cool Smashers.
The Thunderbelles’ win, however, helped Creamline to gain a higher set point ratio (10 points) compared to Chery Tiggo (nine points) and Zus Coffee (seven points) and the last outright quarterfinals slot.
Rookie Ren Penafiel’s career-high 19 points along with Cess Robles’ 18-marker performance were not enough to lift the Crossovers to the playoffs.
