By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Farm Fresh swept Chery Tiggo, 25-17, 25-23, 29-27, while Petro Gazz halted PLDT’s four-game winning run with a 25-21, 27-25, 23-25, 25-21 victory in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at the Mall of Asia Arena on Thursday, Nov. 20.
The victory, aided by the Angels’ four-set triumph over the High Speed Hitters, gained the Foxies the top seeding in the quarterfinals by virtue of higher tiebreak points.
They finished the prelims with a 7-1 record and in a three-way tie with ZUS Coffee, which claimed the second seeding, and PLDT, which settled for No. 3.
With the top seeding, Farm Fresh also arranged a quarters showdown with No. 8 Akari (4-4). ZUS Coffee tangles with No. 7 Capital1 (4-4), which earlier turned back also-ran Galeries Tower.
PLDT, for its part, sets up a meeting with No. 6 Cignal (5-3), while Petro Gazz, whose victory gave them the No. 5 seeding, will be up with defending champion and fourth seed Creamline.
Anchored by Helene Rousseaux, who pumped in 20 points built on 17 kills and three blocks, Farm Fresh bared its fangs and dominated Chery Tiggo on all fronts particularly in attacks, 53-45.
Veteran Ces Molina and Trisha Tubu also delivered for the Foxies with 14 and 13 points, respectively, even as Alohi Robins-Hardy managed 24 of the team’s 26 excellent sets.
In the other matchup, Petro Gazz exploded in the attack line by dropping 76 kills — 32 from Lindsey Vander Weide and 24 from Brooke Van Sickle — to survive the rock-solid defense of PLDT.
Vander Weide was unstoppable and erupted for 35 points, while Van Sickle sizzled with 27 points.
The dynamic duo outshone the efforts of Savi Davison and Anastasiia Bavykina, who scored 27 and 21 points, respectively, in a losing cause for PLDT.
