November 13, 2025 | 5:24pm
Games Saturday
(Ynares Center Montalban)
1:30 p.m. – Farm Fresh vs Galeries Tower
4 p.m. – PLDT vs Chery Tiggo
6:30 p.m. – Capital1 vs Petro Gazz
MANILA, Philippines — Cignal drew strength from Erika Santos in the first two sets and then Vannie Gandler in the third as it dealt ZUS Coffee its first defeat, 25-12, 26-24, 25-23, to bolster its quarterfinal bid in the PVL Reinforced Conference at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Thursday.
Santos, the PVL on Tour MVP, sizzled with 19 points, including 13 on kills and three on blocks, while Gandler came off the bench and chipped in seven, mostly coming in the third set when the Super Spikers’ foiled the Thunderbelles’ threat of forcing another set and staying alive.
The win — the Manny V. Pangilinan-owned franchise’s fourth in seven outings — pushed Cignal one victory closer to making the quarters. But it would have to beat powerhouse Creamline Tuesday at the Ynares Center Montalban.
And Cignal coach Shaq delos Santos knows they will need to have all hands on deck — including import KT Trebichavska — to pull the rug from under that proud Cool Smashers franchise.
“She was a big help in this game even though she is still adjusting,” said Delos Santos on the Slovakian spiker, who chipped in 13 hits on this one. “Skills wise (from one to 10), she’s eight or nine in terms of performance but is only six going seven in terms of what we expect from her.”
“Hopefully she’ll play 10 or even 11 in our next game, which is a must-win,” he added.
ZUS drew another strong effort from Anna DeBeer, who had 26 points, but she couldn’t do it alone as none of her teammates could score six points or more.
“We put an effort to stop her (DeBeer) but she still scored 26. Good thing we stopped the locals, that’s a plus factor,” said Delos Santos.
The Thunderbelles dropped to 6-1.
Meanwhile, Akari slammed sibling rival Nxled, 25-13, 25-17, 25-22, to likewise close in on a spot in the quarters.
Annie Mitchem dropped a match-best 22 points in powering the Chargers to their fourth win against three defeats.
One more triumph — versus Choco Mucho Tuesday in Montalban — would catapult Akari to the Last Eight.
The Chameleons slipped to 0-7.