Air Force, Cignal dispute S Turf crown

MANILA, Philippines - Expect non-stop volley action from the opening serve as Air Force and Cignal face off in what promises to be a classic sudden death for the Spikers’ Turf Season 1-Reinforced Conference crown at The Arena in San Juan today.

The Airmen clipped the HD Spikers in the opener of their best-of-three series, 25-15, 19-25, 25-19, 25-19, but the latter rebounded with a resounding 25-16, 25-17, 25-18 triumph last week to force a winner-take-all in the pioneering men’s volley league presented by PLDT Home Ultera.

But while both teams are expected to step up their attacks from both sides, including from the back row, the Airmen and the HD Spikers have also stressed the need for defense, particularly upfront, and reception which is key to launch each other’s offensive plays.

The sudden death is set at 5 p.m. to be aired live via streaming on www.spikerstur.com, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

“We really need to improve more on our defense since we’ve been relying too much on our libero (Sandy Montero),” said Cignal HD coach Michael Cariño.

The HD Spikers did slow down Airmen’s Jeffry Malabanan, who wound up with just 10 points after scoring 17 in Game One of the finals backed by Mikasa.

Cignal HD also limited Rodolfo Labrador, Reyson Fuentes and Ruben Inaudito to a combined 18-point output in Game Two after the troika spewed 34 hits together in Game One.

Herschel Ramos struck back from a mediocre four-hit game in the opener with an 11-point effort in Game Two, including six blocks to anchor Cignal’s victory and underscore the HD Spikers’ solid net defense.

“We’re a bit lousy in Game One that’s why we made some adjustments in our attacks and blocking,” said Cariño, hopeful they have made the necessary adjustments during the week-long break.