Tai Bierria silenced the Choco Mucho fans inside the Philsports Arena after leading Cignal to a four-set win that helped them catch the final bus to the 2022 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference, Tuesday night.
Bierria fired 18 points on 14 attacks and four blocks to power the HD Spikers’ 17-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-14 victory that also booted the Flying Titans out of the Final Four race.
The 25-year-old American said that playing in front of the massive Choco Mucho fan base gave her a splash of ‘angas’ inside the court. And hearing the loud jeers slowly fade definitely boosted her morale, especially in the fourth set.
“It kinda give you a little extra attitude on the court, you do something wrong and you hear all the cheers like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna shut you up’ so it’s kinda… a little angas, I learned that word, I learned that word.
“Honestly, I didn’t even notice the crowd in the fourth like at some point you just learn to tune it out as the game goes on but yeah it felt good. You hear when they get a little quiet so you know you’re doing your job,” said Bierria after the crucial win.
With the win, the HD Spikers entered the semifinals for the third consecutive time since joining the league in 2021. They joined Creamline, Chery Tiggo, and Petro Gazz in the semifinals.
Bierria said that the rest of the team will be giving their all in their upcoming matches as they try to surpass their back-to-back bronze finishes in the Open Conference and the Invitational Conference early this year.
“I don’t know, but I know that we’re going into the next game with everything we got and that’s just our mentality each day. Not even the next game, tomorrow at practice we’ll give everything we got tomorrow, everything we got the next day, and that gold is somewhere out there.”
