Gandler stars as Super Spikers silence Thunderbelles

Cignal is back on its feet again and closer to advancing to the qualifying round, where the two winners get to punch outright semis tickets.

PVL Media Bureau

Games Saturday

(FilOil Arena)

4 p.m. – Nxled vs Creamline

6:30 p.m. – Akari va Capital1

MANILA, Philippines — Cignal star Vanie Gandler knows they need to play with a sense of urgency to be able to achieve their goal of making it to the four-team qualifying round and eventually claiming the two automatic semifinal berths in the PVL All-Filipino Conference.

It showed in the Super Spikers’ emphatic 25-18, 25-23, 25-22 victory over the ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles Thursday at the Filoil Arena in San Juan to solidify Cignal’s position in the Top Four.

“We know no one is safe even though we started the conference strong,” said the power-hitting Alas Pilipinas standout, who dropped a match-high 20-point performance that she laced with 18 bazooka-like kills.

“Now isn’t the time for us to relax so every practice, we’re doing our best to stay aggressive and improve from our mistakes,” she added.

Those errors happened after the Manny V. Pangilinan franchise absorbed a heartbreaking five-set defeat to Akari a week ago.

But now, Cignal is back on its feet again and closer to advancing to the qualifying round, where the two winners get to punch outright semis tickets and avoid the complications of playing the rigorous stepladder play-in phase for the lower eight squads.

“That’s our goal before the start of the game,” said Cignal coach Shaq delos Santos. “Although our preparation was shaky, we did good and I’m proud of my team because I know the hardship they’ve been undergoing every practice.”

Roselyn Doria-Aquino also came through, chipping in 11 points, while Erika Santos and Jacqueline Acuna had nine and eight hits, respectively.

ZUS dropped to 1-6.