WINNER. Cignal's Mark Frederick Calado (No. 6) scores off Maverick's Kim Tan (No. 13) and Jethro Cabillan (No. 16) during the Spikers’ Turf Open Conference eliminations at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City on Friday (April 26, 2024). The HD Spikers won, 25-20, 25-9, 25-12. (PVL photo)
MANILA – Cignal completed another sweep of the Spikers' Turf Open Conference eliminations after pulling off a 25-20, 25-9, 25-12 victory over Maverick at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City on Friday.
Mark Frederick Calado scored 13 points for the HD Spikers, who also swept the preliminary rounds in 2016 (Open), 2019 (Open), 2023 (Open) and last year's Invitational Conference.
Bryan Bagunas, back in the Cignal roster after missing two matches due to prior commitments with his club team in Taiwan, contributed 10 points, including two aces.
“Last game namin, more on second six ‘yung naglaro. Medyo hindi maganda ‘yung performance. Ngayon, pinabawi ko sila and they were able to perform better than last game namin (In our last game, more of the second six played. They performance was below par. Today, I sent them back and they were able to perform better than our last game)," Cignal coach Dexter Clamor said.
“Magandang motivation ito for us and ‘yung momentum namin going to semis medyo mataas ‘yung morale naming pero pagdating sa semis, back to zero lahat. ‘Yung 8-0 magiging useless kung hindi kami magpe-perform (This is a good motivation for us and our momentum going to the semis. Our morale is quite high but come the semis, everything is back to zero. The 8-0 will be useless if we don't perform [well])," he added.
Lloyd Josafat chipped in nine points while John Paul Bugaoan, Wendel Concepcion Miguel and Alfred Gerard Valbuena added six points each for Cignal in the 79-minute match.
Skipper Razzel Palisoc finished with eight points while Jerome Michael Cordez had six points for Maverick, which dropped to 1-6. (PNA)
