Cignal picked the perfect time to gain a measure of vengeance against the Generika-Ayala Lifesavers, Saturday night.
After dropping both of their previous encounters in the double-round robin, the HD Spikers exacted sweet revenge on the Lifesavers in the quarterfinals of the 2019 PSL All-Filipino Conference to book their trip to the semifinals.
“Payback is always huge, especially at a time like this – in a quarterfinals game; a do-or-die match.
“But it feels good, obviously,” Cignal setter Alohi Robins-Hardy admitted. “But credit to Generika for all their hard work and them being just a great team.”
Revenge factor aside, Cignal were simply the superior team in terms of defense above the net. The HD Spikers put their height advantage over the Lifesavers to good use and turned to their blocking prowess.
Cignal generated 16 points from their vaunted wall — a wall that stymied the hard-hitting Lifesavers, who only had two twin-digit scorers in the match. It also spelled the biggest difference in the match, as Generika-Ayala only collected five rejections.
However, among the lanky players of Cignal, it was the 6-foot-3 Robins-Hardy who fortified their defense the most.
The 23-year-old Fil-Hawaiian did not just orchestrate the offense to the tune of 19 excellent sets, she also hammered in 13 huge points — spiked by a whopping seven blocks.
For her part, it was all about having the right mindset.
“Just doing what I can for my team to help us get a win tonight,” the National Team pool member said.
“It’s all about the mental game. I came prepared.”
At the end of the day, she’s just glad that they carved a character-building win with her teammates doing their respective parts.
“Tonight, we did well. I think one of our best matches and it came at the right time. Everybody played well and everybody came off the bench and did their jobs so I think it was good.”
