Criss Cross took down finals tormentor Cignal, 25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 25-18, to stay unbeaten with a 3-0 card in the Spikers’ Turf Invitational Conference on Sunday night at FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
Jude Garcia displayed his MVP form for the King Crunchers with 24 points off 20 kills, three blocks, and an ace to take down the Super Spikers, who beat them in the last three finals. Noel Kampton also rose to the occasion with 16 points and 11 excellent receptions, while Jaron Requinton added 14 points.
Adrian Villados continued to shine as Criss Cross main setter with 34 excellent sets.
‘I’m happy we got the win, but I know we still have a lot to work on. We’ll keep putting in the effort, especially since we made so many mistakes in the second set,’ said VIillados in Filipino.
‘It’s fun but also challenging because we were up against Cignal. It’s also nice having my older teammates there to guide me. It makes playing on the court feel lighter and easier.’
Cignal absorbed its first defeat despite Steven Rotter’s 22-point effort from 18 kills and four blocks. Louie Ramirez and Lloyd Josafat had 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, University of Santo Tomas-Gameville and Alpha Insurance regained their winning ways for a four-way tie at 2-1, tied with Cignal and idle Savouge.
Josh Ybañez and JJ Macam formed a potent combo as UST trounced the winless VNS, 25-19, 25-19, 26-28, 25-22.
From being limited to eight points in their tough loss to Savouge, Ybañez caught fire with 27 points and had 12 digs.
Macam stepped up for GBoy De Vega, who missed the game to attend to personal matter, backstopped the Alas Pilipinas star with 20 points. ‘Maybe we got a bit too relaxed and didn’t expect the other team to really fight back. That’s why we weren’t able to finish it in straight sets,’ said Macam in Filipino after they survived 34 errors.
‘Our game relies a lot on strong serves, so we tend to commit more errors. That’s the challenge we need to overcome, to hit our targets on serve and handle the pressure better inside the court. Because once we start feeling the pressure, we can’t execute the way we should.’
Trevor Valera and Andrei Delicana had 10 points each. Setter Dux Yambao tossed 34 excellent sets, while Edriel Alabar tallied 24 excellent receptions and 18 digs.
Alpha Insurance, on the other hand, turned to Don Nadera, who dropped 23 points including the two game-winning kills off his blockers to eke out a come-from-behind 22-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-22, 18-16 win over Far Eastern University-DN Steel.
‘I’m so happy that we got the win. Thank God for giving it to us,’ said Nadera. ‘It was tough facing the Tamaraws. They’re a strong team, so we also had to play with all our heart.’ ‘Every game, we just do our job. We always go hard.’
Rocky Motol backstopped Nadera with 20 points and 9 excellent receptions, while Barbie San Andres also delivered an all-around game of 16 points and eight excellent digs.
FEU dropped to a 1-2 record despite Luis Miguel’s 17-point effort. Dryx Saavedra and Charles Absin had 13 points apiece, while Mikko Espartero and Lirick Mendoza added 10 each.