F2 Logistics bested Cignal, 25-15, 25-15, 25-15, to advance to the finals of the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan Thursday night.
The Cargo Movers’ strength and strategy overpowered the HD Spikers in just 63 minutes.
F2 Logistics will be up against the winning team in the Petron and Foton best-of-three showdown which starts on Tuesday at the Muntinlupa Sports Center.
Meanwhile, Cocolife and Sta. Lucia battle each other to determine the 5th and 6th placers, while Generika-Ayala and Cherrylume clash for the 7th and 8th spots at the De La Salle Sentrum in Lipa City this Saturday.
Aby Marano and Ara Galang were forces to be reckoned with as they scored 11 points each. Marano also had five blocks.
The duo executed 18 of the squad’s 34 total spikes to demonstrate the Cargo Movers’ dominance.
But Majoy Baron, the De La Salle player who was crowned Most Valuable Player in the recent UAAP wars, performed outstandingly by delivering 10 aces and a block for a total of 10 points which provided her team a 21-12 advantage.
Marano’s block sealed the team’s victory.
“I think we already learned our lesson from our loss to Cignal in the first round,” said F2 Logistics coach Ramil de Jesus, noting that their poor reception doomed their chances in their four-set defeat to the HD Spikers in the preliminaries.
“We worked hard on our receives and (their) fast attacks and concentrated on our blocking. I saw the great conditioning of the team so I had a feeling that we will end it early.”
De Jesus refused to speculate on his favored finals foe, saying that both Petron and Foton have what it takes to be worthy finals competitor.
“At this point, I’m not yet thinking about it. Both teams are very competitive,” said De Jesus. “Our main agenda at this point is to prepare hard whoever will be our opponent in the finals.”
Rachel Anne Daquis aided Jovelyn Gonzaga in the offense by delivering nine points for the HD Spikers.
However, the team committed 26 errors as opposed to the Cargo Movers’ 18 turnovers.
Games Today
(De La Salle Sentrum)
5 p.m. – Cherrylume vs Generika-Ayala
7 p.m. – Cocolife vs Sta. Lucia