Cagayan Valley Rising Suns withstood a sloppy start to push Cignal HD Spikers to the limit and gain victory in five sets, 25-23, 18-25, 22-25, 31-29, and 15-12, during their preliminary faceoff in the Spikers’ Turf Season 1 Open Conference this morning, at the FilOil-Flying V Arena in San Juan.
The Rising Suns had a rough start in the opening set, allowing Cignal to capitalize on their slow movement. Despite gaining the upper hand midway into the set, 19-15, Cignal committed error after error, allowing Cagayan to force a 22-all deadlock. HD Spiker, Edmar Bonono, ended the knot with an off-the-block hit, 23-22, but failed to spark a run as Cagayan scored three straight points, the last two coming from Peter Torres’ crosscourt hit and a return kill, to grab the first set, 25-23.
Once again, Cignal took advantage of Cagayan’s sloppy plays in the second set, posting a 16-11 lead before heading to the second technical timeout. Cagayan, however, was able to trim the lead to just three, 19-16, after a service attempt from the Cignal side went off the mark. But due to their errors, the Rising Suns failed to move in closer and conceded easy points to the opposing side, allowing Cignal to equalize with one set apiece, 25-18.
The HD Spikers picked up where they left off in the second set, bringing in the momentum they had approaching the third set. Despite Cagayan keeping the set close toward the latter part of the set, 16-14, Cignal kept their composure on the offensive end through quick attacks and reached match point, 24-19, after a Reyson Fuentes quick drop. However, their attack and service errors made the Rising Suns inch within striking distance, 24-22. Marck Espejo tried to initiate a scoring spree to score and tie, but his service attempt did not go over the net, thus giving Cignal a 2-1 set advantage with a 25-22 win.
The fourth set started well again for Cignal, which seemed poised to hand Cagayan their first loss of the tourney, but even with a 16-12 headstart, the Rising Suns clawed back, hard-pressed to preserve their unscathed record. From the said deficit, Cagayan sent the match to a 19-all knot, with Espejo and Jan Paglinawan serving as the catalysts of their offensive groove. From there, exchanges of points came next, with the set reaching a high 28-all deadlock. An error and a back row attack from the HD Spikers sent it to 29-all. Cignal tried to finish Cagayan off, but Espejo and Paglinawan conspired in the last sequence of plays to force a fifth and deciding set, 31-29.
Cagayan started the fourth set with a few errors and trailed by two, 8-6, before changing courts. However, their deficit turned into a lead, 12-9, after Espejo and Rex Intal blocked a Cignal attack. Cagayan scored two more off a quick attack by Intal and a check ball by Espejo to reach match point, 14-12. Anticipating that Cignal might score on another possession, Cagayan called for a timeout to map out a plan. The timeout seemed to be of help, as their back row attack play designed for Espejo, was properly executed to help the Rising Suns topple Cignal in five sets, 15-12.
Espejo led the Rising Suns with a game-high 29 points, 22 of those coming from spikes. Paglinawan had 14 points, all from spikes, while Torres chipped in 10. Lorenzo Capate led Cignal with 27 points, 26 coming off attacks, in a losing effort.
Rising Suns Head Coach Nes Pamilar stressed that his team’s slow start could be attributed to the long layoff they had prior to today’s match. “10 days kaming walang laro, so ‘yung mga players, nahirapan mag-adjust,” said Pamilar. “Pero nagtulong-tulong naman sila [para manalo],” he added.
The victory improved Cagayan to a clean 5-0 slate. Cignal, meanwhile, dropped to 3-3.
The Scores:
Cagayan Valley (3) – Espejo 29, Paglinawan 14, Torres 10, Intal 7, Gatdula 7, Pirante 7, Canlas 4, Santos 3, Ordonez 1, Ramos (L), Dizon (L)
Cignal (2) – Capate 27, Bonono 18, Fuentes 18, Faytaren 13, Ramos 6, Diezmo 4, Lansangan 1, Montero (L)
