ILOCOS NORTE - Ahead, behind, or dragged into a pressure-packed finish, Chery Tiggo always found a way to break free, repulsing Perlas, 25-10, 27-25, 25-23, to wrest solo third in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference at the PCV Socio-Civic Cultural Center in Bacarra here, Monday.
More importantly, the one-hour, 21-minute victory served as redemption for a team that kicked off its campaign with back-to-back victories, only to drop an ego-deflating five-set setback to BaliPure last Thursday.
But against the Spikers, the Crossovers faced a rival still reeling from a straight-set loss to Choco Mucho the previous night and adjusting to the level of pro play after a weeklong delayed debut.
They romped without a hitch in the opening set, pulled through in an extended duel in the next then flashed resiliency in the momentum-swinging third frame.
"Definitely, I'm happy. A win is a win," said Chery Tiggo coach Aaron Velez. "But there's a lot of work to do and we can't relax."
Being complacent, according to Velez, had led to their loss to BaliPure, and perhaps in the second set against the Spikers, and Velez could only hope his wards would learn from the experience as they look beyond the single round elims.
"It's already done and we just have to take it as a learning experience moving forward," he added.
With a 3-1 mark, Chery Tiggo did improve to solo third while dealing Perlas its second loss in as many games.
Jaja Santiago led Chery Tiggo with 15 hits while Shaya Adorador backed her up with 12 points, including four aces, and later bagged the game's top honors. Dindin Manabat added eight markers while Arianne Layug chipped in seven hits for the Crossovers, who also dominated the net with nine blocks against the Spikers' two.
Sue Roces flashed vintage form to power the Spikers majority of the third set, finishing with 11 points, the same output put in by Tiamzon but the duo visibly lacked solid support with Jho Maraguinot adding six hits for Perlas, which however expects to settle down when it sets out for its next game against Cignal HD on Thursday.
Finally getting into the groove, the Spikers came out of the third set smoking, taking six of the first seven points, aided by a Chery Tiggo mishit. They held sway at 11-7 before the Crossovers, behind Adorador, Santiago, Mylene Paat and Rachel Austero combined for six points against Tiamzon's lone hit to seize the lead, 13-12.
It was a duel of spurts from there with Perlas countering with five hits while holding their rivals to a lone point for a 17-14 lead and Chery Tiggo battling back with five unanswered points to regain control at 19-17.
A long Santiago attack and a Tiamzon kill forced another deadlock and after the Crossovers took the next two points, the Spikers rattled off four straight hits of their own capped by a Cherry Nunag hit to wrest another two-point lead.
But Chery Tiggo never gave up as Layug scored off the block and after a costly Perlas miscue, the Crossovers foiled Joy Doromal's attack then claimed the win as Perlas' set-tying spike slammed into the net.
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