Games Sunday:
(PCV Socio-Civic and Cultural Center)
3 p.m. - Petro Gazz vs Black Mamba Army
6 p.m. - Bali Pure vs Choco Mucho
BACARRA, Ilocos Norte — Jaja Santiago and her towering Chery Tiggo team showed PLDT Home Fibr that height is might as it hammered out a 25-20, 25-17, 25-6, on Saturday to jumpstart their title bid in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Open Conference at the PCV Socio-Civic and Cultural Center here.
The 6-6 Santiago teamed up with sister, 6-2 Dindin Santiago-Manabat, and 5-11 Mary Joy Dacoron in combining for 36 points while accounting for eight of the Crossovers’ nine blocks in a triumph that ushered in the league as a pro outfit.
Chery Tiggo coach Aaron Velez was impressed of his wards but said there is still room for improvement.
“Nag perform naman sila, yung kanilang mga roles. However, we still have to do a lot of things again, this is still part of our adjustment period from almost two years without volleyball so we need to still push harder,” said Velez.
For Santiago-Manabat, she was happy to finally get to play side by side with her sister Jaja, who played for Ageo Medics in Japan last year.
“Syempre sobra saya lagi ko hinahanap kapatid ko sa court eto na nagkasama na kami sobra saya,” said Santiago-Manabat.
The Crossovers, the league’s tallest team with an average height of 174 meters or 5-7, imposed its height advantage to the hilt in dominating the Home Fibr Hitters, who just couldn’t get through the former’s nearly impenetrable net defense.
Earlier, the league postponed the game that would have pitted Perlas with Cignal after host Gov. Matthew Manotoc requested for a second round of RT-PCR test.
All 16 Perlas players have already yielded negative results from their RT-PCR and antigen tests before they entered the Laoag bubble last Thursday.
If it yields another negative result following the RT PCR test requested by Manotoc, it can proceed to the competition.
“This is just a precautionary measure set by Ilocos Norte,” said league commissioner Tonyboy Liao.