Malolos City—The race for the coveted third spot heats up as Foton and Cignal tackle separate foes when the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference returns to Malolos Sports and Convention Center here on Tuesday.
The Tornadoes tackle listless Marinerang Pilipina at 4:15 p.m. while the HD Spiker collide with slumping F2 Logistics in the 7 p.m. main encounter of this prestigious women’s club tourney bankrolled by Team Rebel Sports, SOGO, Eurotel, PCSO, Cocolife, UCPB Gen, Mueller, Senoh, Asics, Bizooku and One Sport.
After bowing to Petron during the Spike on Tour at Corpus Christi gym in Cagayan de Oro City over the weekend, Foton forged a tie with Cignal at the fourth spot with a 7-6 win-loss card.
Petron, however, remains on top of the team standings with a 13-1 win-loss card while erstwhile-unbeaten F2 Logistics fell to second spot with an 11-2 mark, no thanks to a heart-breaking five-set setback to PLDT Home Fibr also last Saturday.
Generika-Ayala is at solo third with an 8-6 mark, making the respective bids of Foton and Cignal very crucial as the league enters the final stretch of its double-round preliminaries where the top team faces No. 8; No. 2 battles No. 7; No. 3 collides with No. 6; and No. 4 tangles with No. 5 in the sudden-death quarterfinals.
The HD Spikers have a handsome chance of sealing the third spot due to superior quotient and a victory over the Cargo Movers will book them a quarterfinal showdown with PLDT, which is sitting at the sixth spot with a 6-8 record.
“This is our best and only chance to get the third spot so we have to give our all,” said Cignal head coach Edgar Barroga, who will surely take advantage of the bruised morale of the Cargo Movers following their back-to-back losses to the Blaze Spikers and the Power Hitters, respectively.
Meanwhile, the road to the third spot is quite difficult for the Tornadoes.
They need to beat the Lady Skippers convincingly and pray for the Cargo Movers to dominate the HD Spikers.
Sisters Dindin Manabat and Jaja Santiago, who erupted for 31 and 26 points, respectively, against Petron, are again tipped to carry the load for Foton, which is looking to collect its third title in this tourney that also has ESPN and Kapatid TV5 as broadcast partners.
