Spikers’ Turf: HD Spikers survive Volley Masters

Games today
1 p.m. – San Beda vs UST
3 p.m. – VNS vs Adamson
5 p.m. – EasyTrip vs Air Force

Cignal HD rebounded from a draining third set defeat that took 39 minutes to finish, pouring it all out in the fourth to hack out a 25-10, 25-21, 34-36, 25-14 victory over Instituto Estetico Manila for a second straight win in the Spikers’ Turf Season 4 Open Conference at the Paco Arena in Manila last Sunday.

Marck Espejo came in only in the second set and went on to fire a top-scoring 20 hits while skipper Ysay Marasigan produced 17 points and Edmar Bonono and Wendel Miguel combined for 26 points for the HD Spikers, who overwhelmed their rivals in spikes and blocks but needed to suffer a stinging defeat in the third frame.

Cignal HD thus grabbed the solo lead in Pool A with a 2-0 mark over VNS Volley Club (1-0) and Adamson U (2-1) while IEM fell to 1-1 in the four-division tournament featuring 24 of the country’s leading commercial league teams and schools.

The HD Spikers unleashed a 61-spike game, 24 more that the Volley Masters, while coming through with an impressive 18-block out as against their rivals’ measly three. Cignal also scored seven aces to complete its domination of IEM.

In other results, Ateneo also needed to bounce back from a third set defeat to repulse Lyceum, 25-23, 25-20, 18-25, 25-16, to notch its first win in Pool B while dealing the Pirates their third straight defeat.

Far Eastern U, on the other hand, shrugged off a brief Army resistance in the opening frame and went on to fashion out a 27-25, 25-16, 25-19 victory for a 1-1 card in Pool C. Army fell to 0-4.

Meanwhile, Air Force shoots for its third win in Pool B as it faces EasyTrip (1-0) at 5 p.m. at resumption of action today (Tuesday) with Adamson also gunning for its third victory in four games against VNS Volley Club (1-0) at 3 p.m. and UST out to improve its 1-1 card against San Beda (0-1) at 1 p.m.