Cignal has copped its fifth win in the 2024 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Reinforced Conference.

This, as the HD Spikers soared past Farm Fresh in their Round 2 matchup, 25-23, 28-26, 25-27, 25-14, on Saturday, August 10, at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

With this win, they have secured a ticket to the next round — the second team to do so after the Akari Chargers.

But this triumph did not come easy as they had to recover from a 15-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-22 Akari loss earlier this week.

Coach Shaq delos Santos revealed during the post-match interview that recovery from that defeat “did not come easy.”

“To be honest, ‘di siya madali eh, ‘yung sa pagkatalo namin. Off din kasi ‘yung performance [namin] bukod sa ang ganda nung performance ng Akari. Until now, zero loss pa rin sila,” Delos Santos said.

“Parang sa amin, wala naman kami kailangang gawing kakaiba. Siguro una naming ginawa is ‘yung accept lang kung ano ‘yung nangyari. Part talaga kasi ng competition na sometimes talo.”

Still, he was proud of the team’s efforts against the Foxies.

“Good thing naka-recover and naipanalo namin ‘yung game. So sobrang happy and syempre proud sa team kasi grabe ‘yung effort na binigay nila kanina,” Delos Santos said.

The Foxies snatched Set 3 from Delos Santos’ wards after a 3-0 rally from a 24-25 Cignal lead, which started from a Ces Molina attack error. Import Yeny Murillo fired one through, and Gel Cayuna’s kill attempt went wide to gift the frame to their rivals.

However, Farm Fresh seemed to have lost steam in the final canto as the HD Spikers cruised to an 11-6 cushion and never looked back.

Venezuelan spiker MJ Perez led all scorers with 25 points, while Molina (14 points), Rose Doria (13 points) and Toni Rose Basas (11 points) completed the Cignal supporting cast.

Farm Fresh’s local star Trisha Tubu held the fort for the losing side with 23 points, while guest player Murillo added 21 markers. (ABS-CBN News)