Red-hot HD Spikers go for No. 3 seeding

MANILA, Philippines — Cignal hopes to finish third in the preliminaries and gain a much needed morale booster entering the qualifying round as it clashes with an unpredictable Akari today in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the PhilSports Arena.

The HD Spikers are actually bunched with the PLDT High Speed Hitters, their sister squad, and the Choco Mucho Flying Titans at No. 3 with identical 7-3 marks, behind Creamline and Petro Gazz’ league-best 9-1 slates.

But a victory over the Chargers, who have split their first 10 matches, in their 4 p.m. collision will seal them outright No. 3 since they will end up with the highest FIVB tiebreaker.

The HD Spikers have also won their last two games including a 25-18, 25-22, 21-25, 25-11 win over the vastly improved ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles Thursday, and a third win in a row should further boost their growing confidence.

Cignal’s re-emergence was sparked by several moving forces, including rookie sensation Ishie Lalongisip, who helped fill in the massive void left by the departure of Ces Molina and Riri Meneses.

“‘Yung mindset namin sa last game is we need to get that win para advantage rin namin ‘yun for the placing sa preliminaries,” said the high-leaping, power-spiking Lalongisip.