Choco Mucho, Army, PLDT push semis aspirations

MANILA, Philippines — Army Black Mamba, PLDT and Choco Mucho shoot for semis berths today when they battle separate foes at the close of the elimination round in the Premier Volleyball League Invitational at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.

The Lady Troopers tackle the powerhouse Creamline Cool Smashers at 11:30 a.m, the Power Hitters face the Cignal HD Spikers at 2:30 p.m. and the Flying Titans collide with the ousted Petro Gazz Angels at 5:30 p.m.

Army and PLDT, tied for third with 3-2 records, and Choco Mucho, at No. 5 with a 2-3 mark, will shoot for the two remaining semis seats and try to join Cignal, Creamline and foreign guest teams Kobe Shinya of Japan and King Whales of Chinese Taipei in the next round.

A win for both the Lady Troopers and Power Hitters would catapult them straight to the next phase, eliminate the Flying Titans and complete the semis cast.

A loss by either one or both and a win by Choco Mucho, which stayed alive after edging PLDT, 25-21, 25-17, 22-25, 10-25, 16-14, last Thursday, would create a two-way tie or a three-way logjam.

Deadlocks will be resolved by the quotient tiebreak.

Choco Mucho coach Oliver Almadro is hoping his team can muster the same fighting spirit they showed in rallying back from a 6-2 fifth-set deficit against PLDT the last time out.

“That’s what I’ve always asked the team, to be a never-say-die team,” said Almadro. “And we will never say die on Saturday and we will fight until the end and for each other.”

Kat Tolentino is expected to come through again after she delivered when her team needed it most by unleashing a 27-point masterpiece including some clutch hits and kill blocks in the deciding set against PLDT.

“The team showed character,” said Tolentino, who missed a couple of games due to health reasons.