Chery Tiggo keeps semis bid alive, boots out Choco Mucho

Mylene Paat
PVL

MANILA, Philippines — The Chery Tiggo Crossovers kept alive their chase for a semifinals spot in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference with a three-set drubbing of the Choco Mucho Flying Titans, 25-21, 25-19, 25-19, at the PhilSports Arena on Thursday.

The Crossovers snapped a three-game losing slump and improved to 4-3, keeping pace with a logjam in the middle of the standings with the last two spots in the semifinals.

"Again, I just want to keep on thanking the Lord for always guiding us. Everybody’s healthy. Secondly, I just want to congratulate the ladies. They poured their heart out. They trusted one another and we stuck by it. Yun nga, ako nagpapasalamat lang. Kahit may mga adjustments kami, may pinagdaanan kami," said Crossovers head coach Aaron Velez.

Mylene Paat paced four Crossovers in twin-digit scoring with her 25 points built on 22 attacks, one block and two aces. She also had eight excellent digs.

Pauline Gaston, playing against her former team, did a little bit of everything with a triple-double of 12 points, 19 excellent digs and 14 excellent receptions.

She filled in the spot left by EJ Laure who did not see action for the Crossovers this game.

Cza Carandang and Shaya Adorador finished with 12 and 10 markers, respectively.

The Crossovers already doomed the Flying Titans' semis hopes when they went up 2-0 after a Carandang block. Because of the points system, Choco Mucho cannot catch up to the rest of the pack even if they did win the match in five sets.

Chery thus sent Choco Mucho to their third straight conference where they missed out on the semifinals.

Kat Tolentino was the sole bright spot for Choco Mucho with 16 markers in the losing effort.

The Flying Titans fell to 2-5 for the conference.

Chery hopes to ride the momentum all the way to San Agustin Gymnasium in Iloilo City where they will attempt to fan their semis hopes even more with a win over the Petro Gazz Angels.

They play the Angels on Tuesday, March 14.

Meanwhile, the Flying Titans will hope to end their season on a high note when they clash with the PLDT High Speed Hitters on Thursday, March 16, at the PhilSports Arena.

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