PLDT, Choco Mucho clinch No. 4, 5 seeds in PVL Passi sweeps

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PLDT and Choco Mucho stay inside the top five ahead of the PVL qualifying round

MANILA, Philippines – PLDT and Choco Mucho secured their spots in the PVL All-Filipino qualifying round with sweeps on Saturday, February 22, Passi, Iloilo City. 

The High Speed Hitters made quick work of the ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles, 25-20, 25-16, 25-15, to finish the preliminary round on a high note. 

With the win, PLDT nabbed an 8-3 win-loss card, good for the fourth seed in the qualifying stage, where they will again face the Thunderbelles after falling to the ninth spot with a 4-7 record. 

Savi Davison led PLDT with 17 points off 14 attacks and 3 blocks, while Majoy Baron chipped in 10 points as 12 of the 14 players who saw action in the game scored at least a point for the High Speed Hitters. 

“The usual (players) stepped up today. The mindset was to perform and matchup well against (ZUS Coffee) since we will face them in the next round. I’m glad they controlled the game,” said High Speed Hitters head coach Rald Ricafort in Filipino. 

The High Speed Hitters now ride on a four-game winning run, which included a streak-ending win against the Creamline Cool Smashers last February 15. 

Chai Troncoso put up 9 points in front of her hometown crowd, while Mich Gamit added 8 markers in a losing effort. 

Meanwhile, the Choco Mucho Flying Titans sealed the fifth spot with a rousing win against Chery Tiggo, 25-18, 25-23, 26-24, to close out the preliminaries. 

The two squads will face again in the qualifying round as the Crossovers finished with the eighth spot with a 5-6 record. 

The Flying Titans, which recorded an 8-3 card in the preliminary round, leaned on Sisi Rondina’s 20-point tally and Isa Molde’s 15 markers to extend their winning streak to six games. 

Rondina led Choco Mucho’s second-set surge, sparking a 6-1 finishing run to lift the team from a 19-22 deficit en route to the sweep. 

“This is a huge boost of confidence for us knowing we will face them again next round,” Choco Mucho head coach Dante Alinsunurin said in Filipino. “Then again, we still need to work harder in the next game to make sure we get the win.”

Choco Mucho ended preliminaries tied with PLDT (23 points) and Cignal HD Spikers (25 points) in the standings, but fell to the fifth spot due to inferior match points at just 20. 

Ara Galang put up 9 points for Chery Tiggo, while Ces Robles had 8 points as the team failed to have any double-digit scorers in the game. 

The winners of the knockout qualifying round will advance to the playoffs, while the losing squads will enter a play-in tournament to revive their chances.

The quarterfinals will then have a best-of-three series, before a round-robin semifinals with a tiebreaker, if needed.

The qualifying round will begin on February 27 at the PhilSports Arena. – Rappler.com