By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
ZUS Coffee denied Chery Tiggo an outright quarterfinals berth after a hard-fought 19-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-19, 15-6 victory in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) On Tour at the Candon City Arena in Ilocos Sur on Tuesday, July 29.
The Thunderbelles relied on their rock-solid net defense anchored by AC Miner to close out the preliminaries with a 3-2 win-loss record, creating a three-way tie with their victims and the Creamline Cool Smashers in Pool B.
With this scenario, Creamline emerged at second after FIVB tiebreaks were applied, earning them the outright quarters ticket. ZUS Coffee, for its part, dragged Chery Tiggo into the knockout round for the remaining quarters seats.
Miner displayed her all-around game by firing 15 attacks and swatting away four blocks to pace the Thunderbelles with 19 points, while help also came from Kate Santiago, who pumped in 13 points including 11 kills.
Cloanne Mondonedo, who won last season’s MVP in the NCAA, also played a key role in orchestrating the offense, delivering 36 of the team’s 41 excellent sets.
Mondonedo lauded the team’s efforts, but admitted there’s still room for improvement especially as they head into the pivotal stretch of the tournament.
“I think madami pa rin kaming kailangang i-improve. Kulang pa rin kami,” said Mondonedo.
“Ayaw din naming umuwing malungkot. Ang layo ng binyahe namin kaya lumaban talaga kami,” she added.
ZUS Coffee neutralized Chery Tiggo’s explosive offense with 11 blocks and capitalized on the Crossovers’ miscues, scoring 29 points off their errors.
Renee Penafiel paced the Crossovers with 19 points, even as Ces Robles and Imee Hernandez had 18 and 14 points, respectively, but their efforts went futile.
